
Glass _£l4^^- 
6ook_ "II 



'i-y ■ ' 



/ 



PROCEEDINGS 






OREA^T 



PEACE CONVENTION 



THE CITY OF. NEW- YORK, 







JUNE 3d, 186S. 



SPEECHES. ADDKESSES, RESOLUTIONS, AND 
LETTERS FROM LEADING MEN. 



ABRIDGED FROM THE ELABORATE REPORT PUBLISHED IN THE NEW- 
YORK "JJAILY NEWS," JUiHB 4th. 1863. 







West. Bee. Hl»t. Soc. 



« 

% 

S 



PROCEEDINGS 



GREAT PEACE CONVENTION. 

♦* A 



INTRODUCTORY. • 

• t • * * * *. 

The Editor of the New York Daily Nema, in presontinK the following abridg- 
ment of the report of the proceedingd of the Great Peace Convention, held in the City 
of New York on the third day of June, 1863, and published in the Nems of the suc- 
ceeding morning, desires to say, that he presents it in this more convenient and du- 
rable form, because, in common with thousands of his fellow-citizens, he beHeves the 
principles enunciated by the Convention, should become the creed political of every 
patriot in the land ; and, that the stand taken by that Great Council of the People of 
New York who preferred their country peaceful and prosperous, to a Government 
Contract purchased by the blood of their brothers, against an unnatural and suicidal 
civil war, should be held as an enduring evidence that while the cohorts of the Ad- 
ministration, led by passion alone, beheld with favoring eye, the Constitution of 
their Country violated again and again, and the rights of American Citizens totally 
disregarded by those in authority, they at least continued true to the principles of 
our Fathers and rallied in their defence. 

It was a demonstration of which every patriot in America may well be proud. To 
say that it was the largest convention ever held in this or any other country, would 
not be affording even a faint idea of its overwhelming immensity. A grander gather- 
ing of the people has never been seen. If mere numbers could give eclat to the snb- 
hme purpose for which the convention was called, it was given there and then. 
Peace at length found its fitting pageant, all the more sublime because of the human- 
izing contrast to the pageantry grown so familiar, of blood and carnage following ian ! 
the ghastly train of Civil War. On that day and night eyery man, with or without a ' 
banner, was the representative of the general desire for a return of the nation oncer • 
more to the pleasant paths of Peace, Prosperity and Happ-.iess. The brilliant Cal- 
cium lights threw their dazzling rays upon hopeful faces everywhere ; and the rauaic, i' 
instead of marking time for the tread of armed men, was soft and' sweet, giving prorii'- " 
ise of coming calmness and tranquility. In fact, in its every feature the Convention 
was one most charmingly desirable to look upon, even in its parta ; for so groat was • 
it that no man, from any single position, could view it as a whole, Witli the focus, in, . 



Cooper Institute, it radiated far up and dtiwa and to the right and left, fiUing all 'Bd- 
joiuing Btreeta, until those upon its extremes could form but a meager conception of 
the bcene between them and the grand center. In the reports in the New York Daily 
Xt-irs iu the writing of which nearly the entire reportorial force of the establishment 
na« engaged, the endeavor was to give to those outside the city, an idea of its im- 
meubity. But, starting witli, and carrying out, a system of extensive conden- 
•lation, they filled five pages of the News, and had enough left ovei- to fill another 
paptT. There were iu all five prominent platforms from which fifty prominent meu 
addressed as many of the people as could be packed within hearing of their several 
voices. The principal stand was in the large Hall of Cooper Institute, and from tlie 
reports of the proceedings there and at the other stands, we make the ftillowiug se- 
lections : 

STAND NO. 1. 

The Hall of the Cooper Institute was filled with a large audience at an early hour. 
The greatest enthusiasm prevailed among the vast assemblage, who listened to th» 
eloquent discourse of music, national and operatic, until the regular speakers aiTived. 
The American colors were thrown upon the speakers' stand, the colors were also taste- 
tu'lv festooned aroudi t^ busts of tlie Nation's patriots, also were suspended from 
t-be mottoes hanging Trom the walls. They were, as follows : « 

..• ♦.: • 

Th? Constitutiqh as It Is— The Union as It Was. 
., • . STAND FIRM ! 

;...•..• *. .:.?.* 

; '* The great issue before the country is this: Shall Abolition put down the Union : 
[ or shall the Union put down Abolition ?"— Henry Clay, 1851. 



; " No Conscription for Opinion's Sake." : 

At &i o'clock the densely thronged assembly was organized by Senator Lawrence, 
from Queens County, who, after the great applause had subsided, stated in a few 
words the object of the meeting, and announced for their chairman the Hon. F. C. 
IJiuninny, of Steuben County. The proposed chairman was then introduced, and was 
received with thundering applause. 

Speech of F. C. DINNINNY, of Steuben County. 

FniKSDS AND Fellow-Citizens : I thank you for this kind reception, and for the 
honor you have conferred upon lue by calling me to preside over your deliberations 
upon thiM most important occasion. Tlie object wo have in view, and for the promo- 
tion of which we are here convened is of no factious character. It is to exercise the 
riglits of freemen by temperate discussion and deliberation upon the important sub- 
ject that now occupies and agitates the public ifind, and inaugurate, if possible, meas- 
ures to rcliovo our country from the dire calamity of an extended fratricidal conflict 
I liat irt preying upon tlic vitals of our once happy l)ut now distracted nation. That 
I'bject is pregnant with interest not only to ourselves, not only to every citizen of thift 
»rtHt Republic, but to every human being, however higli or humble thathas an niterest 
ia tli<' pcrp(;tuation cjf freedom and free institutions. Viewing the questions present- 
ed for our consideration, from the stand point that invests them with such vast im- 
port iiiicc, and realizing tlie responsibility we are assuming, it beccmies our duty, and 
I doubt not it will bo our i)l<'a^uie to see to it, that no rash counsels prevail ; for not- 
withstanding wo ardeiitlv dcsirr jieiice to be; restored among the contending sections 
of the country without the further rlVusioii of blood, yet we cannot ac.:ept or receive 
It nj>on liny but honorable terms, nor upon any terms that do not promise in the end 
1-1 restore to lis and posterity the l)lessings of the entire Union. 1 am awfive that an 
» fl)rt huH been made by great concert of action, by indiscreet members of the Demo- 
rrutic party, to poibon the minds of the masses by more than insinuatmg that the ob- 



ject of this convention is to clivitlc the Democratic party. So long as the sucecss of 
our under takius; ho manifestly depends upon the united action of Democrats, this 
slander needs no refutation from me ; and you will pardon me for saying what nuist 
bo obvious to every candid mind, that our effort here, so far as the Democratic party 
is concerned, is to' combine its moral and numerical strength xipun the right side of 
issues that must at no distant day divide political parties m this country. But, fel- 
low citizens, Wi) have interests iiivolve<l inrtnitely beyond mere party consideration; 
better, intinioeiy better, that the DemocraLc party slimild be scattered beyond the 
hope of rf'-a.ii'-!i, than that tliis war shonUl bo prosecuted in name to put down the 
Rebelliop, li.i:, in fact, to crii-'i out Coui^iiiut'onal liberty. When I cast my eyes over 
this v;w. f - .' f'un-e, and i>ilect, that the people are moving in their .sovereign ca- 
pacijy in '. - ■ • ■ v aiL-ection mat can insure the accomplishment of the sacred object 
we have in v:r;v;, my heai'C JoajJS for joy at the tlionglit, tliat there is yet some hope 
that our long cherished ilesire, to wit: a restora(ioa of the Union, inayyet be realized; 
that all may noi^'et be lost. In view of tlie fact, that war is the enemy of commerce 
and commercial interests, while peace is the harbinger of active pro.sperity in com- 
mercial pnrsni's, it is emhieutly lit and proper that the lirst general voice opposed 
to war and in .'voi- of peace siKuild emanate from this great ciiy, the great commer- 
cial center of a conntrv laat has been shaken from center to circumference by an un- 
necessary and a'atricidal coutiict that has been raging wiihin its jjniders for more than 
two long aocl dre.iry years, and will continue to rage so long as speculators and place- 
hunters infes.. our couniry, unless the sovereigns shall interjiose to stay its ravages 
and put an end to its devastation. lam aware, fellow-citizens, that among those 
who claim to be conservative, tliere exists a ditt'erence of opinion as to the policy to 
ho pursued to restore harmony among the difl'erent sections of ^ur country. While. 
all claim to de-^re peace and to see tlie American Union once more united, prospei'ous 
and happy, some apparently entertain the opinion that the time has not yet arrived 
ih whicn to inaugurate conciliatory means to eti'ectthat glorious object. Of such, al- 
low me to iiKiuire, if after two years of sanguinary and biwody conflict, in whicli mil- 
lions upon millions of treasure have been expended, and thousands, tens of thousands, 
yea, hundreds of thousands of the pvi'cious livt;s of our fellow-citizens have been sac- 
rificed and their bones left to bleach on the field of carnage, and yet no progress 
made in restoring that fraternal accord that must necessarilv exist in order that th« 
Union may distribute its blessings ; but, on the contrary, the ditficulties that havt* 
estranged and alienated one section of our common country from another have been 
augmented, the feelings of hate intensified, and the prospect of restoring to the Gov- 
ernment its rightful authority has become less day by d;ly as the war has progressed ; 
I say if all this has transpired and resulted from a war policy, and no sane man can 
say it has not, and yet the time has not ai lived to make by conciliatory means an hon- 
est, honorable effort to arrange and seti'e the difficulties that have cost us not only 
the sacrifices named, but have well nigh destroyed our country, and what is still dear- 
er, our Constitutional liberties,— in the name of high Heaven, when will it come ? — 
Shall it be when the last hope of the patriot has been extinguished? Shall it b« 
when the last lingering vestige of Constitutional liberty shall be crushed out ? No, 
fellow-citizens, I answer no. If the time is ever to be when it will be i)roper to make 
8uch eflbrt, that time is to-day. We know not what course others may mark out to be 
puisued in this important crisis of our country's history ; over that we liave no con- 
trol ; but let us shrink not from any com se within our control to discharge with fi- 
delity every obiigat'on we, as good citizens, owe to our country. Let us perform 
every known duty, having in view only our country's good, not with rashness or 
recklessness, but with a dignified fearlessness that shall be commensurate with the 
magnitude of the intere6.t involved in the fjucstions we have under' consideration. It 
is, fellow-citizens, not only because of tlic manifest ett'cet of the general war policy of 
the Administi'atiou upon our national Union, but also because of the rapid strides 
with which we are being hastened toward a military despotism, that wo have cause, 
of alarm. It is this tendency to despotism that has shaken the confidence of many a 
patriot, not only in the ability, but also in the disposition of the powers that be, to 
restore peace and prosperity to our distracted land and country. It may not be con- 
sidered proper for me, at tlic present time, to speak of the causes that have brought 
upon us the calamity of civil war, and its disastlous consequences. Indeed I do not 
desire to do so in any spirit of crimination or recrimination. littt I can scarcely forbear 
to animadvert with some severity upon the conduct of those fanatics from both North 
and South, who, at a time in the' early history of our difficulties, when an honorablt! 
adjustment was attainable, refused to listen to or heed honorable and fair terms of 
compromise, and thereby, and bj' their extreme and unjustifiable conduct thereafter, 
have brought the be^t government human wisdom ever devised to tke very utmost 
verge of ruin, and they now look upon the rapid descent of the Union and our countiy 
to sure and irretrievable ruin, with the same stolid indifl'erence with which Nero fid- 
dled while Rome was burning. Had the entreaties of conservative men who stood liko 
breakwaters against the furious waves of fanaticism that rolled in upon them from all 
directions been listened to, had the counsels of wise, patriotic, tried and true men bceu 
heeded in the early history of our difficulties, we should not now be reaping the bitter 
retribution of wickedness and folly. But notwithstanding the advice of such men 
was ignored, and the counsels of those who desired a little blood-letting was adopted ; 
»>d notwithstanding many felt that the calamity of war might and should have oeeji 



6 

avoided ; yet to the calls of the administration for men and means to prosecute the 
war, there came up from the people, without distinction of party, a response with 
such generous unanimity as iiuds no parallel in the hibtor^ of the world. Men and 
means were thrust upon the President until he was compelled to cry, hold enough ! 
and to spare. That generous snp)port has heen continued for more than two years 
under a promise, emanating from high places, of a speedy termination of all our diffi- 
culties, and a happy restoration of our glorious Union. With what fidelity have they 
attempted to keep that promise let the history of the conduct of the powers that be, 
answer. But, fellow-citizens, there is one thing I would, and I doubt not you would 
hke to know, and that is : Eow much of the people's treasure thus devoted by them 
to the cause of their country has been, during this time, squandered upon political 
favorites in the shape of army contracts ? And how many of the precious lives of 
fhose who went forth, as they supposed, in defence of their country — wliose bones 
now whiten many a battle-field— have been sacrificed upon the altar of ambition and 
imbecility V These are questions those in authority must, sooner or later, answer 
before a tribunal not formed of shoulder-straps, but before an august tribunal 
of the sovereign people. And who doubts that the verdict and sentence of that 
tinbunal, while it may not expatriate or banish them, will nevertheless cover 
them with infamy and disgrace, from which they will gladly hide in some 
secluded portion of the world, shut out from the presence and gaze of their injured 
countrymen ? It is because we believe that the war power alone in the hands of any 
party, and especially in the hands of those who now wield it, is powerless to produce 
peace or restore the Union, that we favor the inauguration of conciliator}' measures 
as the only means of effecting that glorious object. I am aware that for these senti- 
ments we may be cq.lled traitors. But if to be in favor of amicably adjusting the diffi- 
culties that have alienated one portion of our common country from another ; if 
to be in favor of closing up the avenues of death that have drenched our country ip 
blood ; yea, if to be in favor of roUing back the tide of desolation and destruction that 
have draped our country in mourning, we are to be called traitors, let our answer be, 
God grant that we may die with a full consciousness of having been such traitors. I 
am, fellow-cit.zens, in favor of making peace for several reasons : First, the good book, 
which it would be well (allowing me to be the judge) for some of our pulpit orators to 
study more, some at the expense of knowing less about politics, declares : " Blessed 
are the peace-makers, for they shall inherit the kingdom of Heaven." A promise a 
large portion of our Christian friends seem to have forgotten ; and it may be out 
of place to remind them that the Bible contains such promise even to the peace- 
makers, in order that they may if they will before it shall be too late, change their course 
of conduct upon this question and truly avail themselves of this glorious promise. — 
(secondly, I am in favor of peace, for I believe it to be the only means of perpetuating 
our free institutions. And thirdly, I am in favor of it because I believe in it lies the 
only hope of preserving our Constitutional liberties. Let us, however, fellow-citizens, 
in our efforts to secure to ourselves and posterity the blessings of peace, exei-cise a 
jealous anxiety and caution, and see to it that no act of ours shall prejudice the inter- 
est of our country, that nothing shall be done by us that shall contribute to the dis. 
tracted state of our Union, and that nothing shall be left undone that duty to our- 
selves and country require. Let no pretended effort to prosecute the war, wrest from 
us our Constitutional liberties, and, if necessary, in defense of those sacred rights, 
guaranteed to us by that sacred instrument — the Constitution — let us buckle on our 
armor and lay hold of the hilfof our swords, and hold on wielding them in the sacred 
cause.until our hands shall grow fast to them. Never ! no, never for a single mo- 
ment, relinquishing or surrendering one iota of those invaluable rights or privileges 
while a shread of muscle shall quiver upon our bones or a life pulse throb in our 
bosoms. 

The chairman then said that the report of the committee upon the address and res- 
olutions would be read, and introduced Dr. Bradford who read them, as follows : 

ADDRESS AND RESOLUTIONS. 

Faixow-CmzK-NS of the Empire State : 

Called together by competeut authority we address you, freely and fearlessly, upon the great ques 
tion pervudiug the public mind. Our power to do so emanates from the Democratic popular will. 
We are the auiUorizud exponents of the sentiments of those who vote the Democratic ticliet and sup- 
port Democratic principles. We speak the voice of the ma.sses, assembled for that purpose, and 
thus wo represent those who have the exclusive right to determine questions of doctrine. In ordi 
nary times, according to usage, the machinery of our party organization (always controlled by the 
few) assumes the right to speaic lor the many. But these are not ordinary times. Stupendous politi- 
cal questions for uujudication and party determination are lorced upon us. Issues between the 
Slates and the people on one side, and those in authority of our central government upon the other, 
are being made up, and must be met and disposed of forever. The resolutions auopted in State 
Conventions called lor the purpose of making nominations, are, as you know, always framed to meet 
what is considered expedient for the then sole object of electing tlie ticket nominated, and hence do 
not and indeed cannot deal with these mighty political problems which the crisis has thrust upon us, 
with that independeaco and boldness which truth and justice require. Therefore, thus assembled m 
uur sovereign capacity, fmsd from th» stilhiih considerations which attach to the dMire of succsss of 



eRDcIidates, not embarrassed by tlip con.iiderntions of a paodlng election, with a fiiH belief that Ihers 
is no higlier power Itnown to the Democratic party than that which rests in the people, who compssn 
the party, we assume the right to indicate what, in our juilgmfnt, is the duly of the party at this 
perilous moment of its history. 

The Democratic party was established by Thomas Jefferson. He founded it by the enundatioii of 
certain distinctive principles, taking issue with an opposite party, which held doctrines W an an- 
tagonistic character. We have helil llrinly to these principles from that day to the commencement 
of the war. However much occasional dilti'iences upon minor questions have divided the Icaiiiux 
minds of the party, the great leading lundamental truths upon which it was founded were generally 
respected ami acquiesced in until 1S61. At the commencement of this war circumstances created a 
condition of the public mind which overwhelmed reason, and thrust aside principles and true i)oiicy. 
The theory on which the central government was established, was lost sight of. The Democratic 
party yielded to the insanity of the moment. Its leaders through fear or treachery deserted the 
masses and either by criminal desertion or omission to stay the torrent of inlldelity to the party 
ureeil as it swept over the free States, left us in a state of helpless dependency, at the mercy of the 
enemies of the country and of Democratic principles. It is true, the forms of party organization wer« 
adhered to. Men were told that the Democratic party still existed. We were called u|)ou to vote at 
elections for candidates as Democratic, who were put forward and supported as such. I'artizun dis- 
cipline was enforced in favor of men as the representatives of the party, after the party itself hud 
ignored the fundamental principles of its creed. Tho party was called Democratic though it had re- 
pudiated the fundamental truths which constitute the chief element of democracy. Now, we design 
no reproach of those who thus preserved tho skeleton of party machinery. The terrible ori,lKal 
through which all of us passed in that dreadful moment of popular excitement may be accepted us a 
palliation, if not as an excuse for this estrangement. It may be well that the skeleton was jire- 
Si'rveil. Indeed, in view of the fact that even yet it is not too late to clothe it with material life — 
let us be thankful. To do so is our duty and our present object. W« desire the Democratic jiarly to 
come back to its time-honored principles and to be true to itself and to the country — to assert boldly 
the tenets by which it has always obtained and maintained power, and under which it has adminis- 
tered successfully the Government of the United States for fifty years. What are these princi- 
ples? 

THB PRINCTPLKS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. 

The iiriuciples of the Democratic party are not of recent origin. They were announcrtd by 
Thomas JelTorsou sixty years ago, and though new questions have from time to time arisen apper- 
taining to government and the continually varying aspects of public affairs, the principles them.wlves 
have remained and yet remain unchanged. Democratic principles never change. If they could, 
they would not have had the binding fimdamental elfect that ours have had ujjon the action of a 
great party for over half a century. During tho eight years' administration of Washington as l^resi- 
deut, from which we may ilate the existence of our present form of government, there ftere no dis- 
tinctive party organizations, because there were no issues. The elder Adams sucsceded Washinyton. 
The character of his mind, arising, doubtless, from the intlueuces of his section, soon gave i !.''•• lo an 
exclusive policy of administration, which verged strongly to consolidation. It was during Ins ;id- 
miuisfcration and through his inllucnce that the odious alien and sedition laws were passed : ;aid llie 
prosecutions which' took place in consequence. He also obtained a standing array of 80,OiO -men. 
We refcT to these facts simply as characterizing the tendency of the Government under the then in- 
fluences. Jefferson saw the drift. He detected in this policy a determination to force Mie govern- 
ment into a wrong channel. It was now that he enumerated the great truths, which have ever since 
been the corner stone upon which the Democratic party have stood. These were opposition to a 
strong government — strict construction of the Constitution — the entire sovereignty of the Sthtos — the 
'limited powers of the Federal authority — close economy in public expenditures — an aversion to Uril- 
ish power on this continent — the expansion of our territory in which all the States should hold rqual 
rights — the largest liberty for the citizen consistent with public good — and that that is Dhe.best govern 
ment which governs the least. These were the distinctive principles upon which the Democratic 
parly was established. John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and their followers were then in power, 
and by virtue of this advantage wc^re steering the ship upon another tack. I^ike this Administration, 
they had possession and were making tho most of it. Fearing the people, their elfort was to muzzle 
the popular elements. The whole scope and tendency of official authority was to increase the cttaial 
power from its designed weakness into proportions which would overshadow the people anil Uie 
.Stales. They denounced Jefferson. Hi; was called " traitor," as we are now, because he op])osed flu- 
administration. He was pronounced a •' bold,.bad and dangerous *ian,'' because the peolilc rallied 
to the support of his doctrines — a " sans culoUe,'' — because he beliexed in the " rights of man ;'" "an 
infidel," because he advocated freeclom in religion, and weuld not let New England instil ils jiernl ■ 
ciou»spirit of intolerance into the public mind. Ho arnd his followers were held up to public odium 
as we are ; but, thank God, his cause, like ours, was just, and the patriotic masses, with an irresis- 
tible lorce, sustained him, as they will sustain us, .against the power of the Government and its im- 
mense cohorts of dependents, satellites and sympathizers. 

THE SOVKREIG.NTT OF TUB STATEi?. 

This principle is the corner stone of the party. Upon it rests the whole fabric. As it is the 
chief foundation of the Federal Government, so it is tho chief element of the Democratic party. Jel- 
ferson, in his inaugural address, delivered March 4, 1801, said that his policy should be " to support 
the State Governments in all their rights as the most competent administralives of our domestic C(Jii- 
corns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies." The Virginia Resolutions si 
I79S, drawn by James Madison, declared that " the powers of the General Government, as resulting 
from the compact to which the States are parties, are limited by the plain sense and intention of the 
instrument constituting the compact, and are no lurther valid than Ihey are authorized by the grauUs 
'•numerated in that compact. And that in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of 
jHiwers not granted, the States who are parties thereto have the right and are in duty bound to inter- 
pose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits the au- 
thorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them." And in the Kentucky Resolutions, also adopted 
m 1798, and which it is understood wore sketched by Thomas Jefferson, it was dectared that when 
soever the General Government assumes undelegated powers its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of 
no force, that each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its eo-Statos forming as to it 



self the other party ; that the Govurnraeut creato'd by this compact was not made the exclusive or 
final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, since that would have made its discretion, and 
not the Constitution, the measure of its powers ; that as in all other cases of compact among parties 
1 avins no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself as well of the infraction as 
tiie mode and measures of redress." In the I-'ederal Convention which framed the Constitution all 
oiHer modes of making a form of General (lovernment except that which left the sovereignty and 
imlependence of llie .■'tates (independent of the central government about to be created) intact, wa^ 
TOtod down. There were several antagouistio plans proposed, debated, voted upon, and rejected. 
So tenacious were the framers of the Coustitntiou upon this subject, that the word •' National '•" was 
unanimously stricken out of the draft of the plan adopted, on motion of Mr. Ellsworth of Connecticut. 
The word •• Federal '' was substituted because, as was said, ■' it pertains to a league or compact, and 
is derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, particularly between nations.'" Mr. 
Ellsworth and itr. ^siiernuui, the two leading minds from Xew England in that Convention, wrote of 
the Constitution, that it merely granted " some additjoual powers to Congress '' which extended to 
matter respecting the common interests of the Union, and are specially defined sn that the pmiiciilar 
States retain their sovereignly in other matters.'' 

Alexander Hamilton in the same connection said : 

" The States can never lose their powers tiU the whole people of America are robbed of their 
liberties. These must go together. They must support each other or meet a common fate I wish 
the Committee to remember that the ConstitLition under examination is framed upon truly Republi 
ean principles, and that as it is expre.-?Bly desicrned for a common protection and the general welfartf 
of the United States, it must be utterly repugumt to this Constitution to subvert the State Govern- 
ment or oppress the people. The coercion of States is one of the madded projects that was ever densed. 
A failure of compliance will never be confined to a single State. This being the case, can we sup- 
pose it wise to hazard a civil war? It would be a nation at war witli itself. Can any reasonable 
man be well disposed toward a Government that makes war and carnage the only means of support 
ing itself— a Government that can only exist by the sword ? Every such war must involve the inno 
cent with. the guilty. This single consideration should not be inefficient to dispose every peaceable 
•itizen against such a Government." 

Mr. Law, in the State Convention of Connecticut, convened in 1788 to ratify the Constitution, 
said : " Some suppose that the General Government, which extends over the whole, will annihilate 
the State Governments. But we ought to consider that this General Government rests on the State 
Governments for its support. It is like a vast and beautiful bridge built upon thirteen strong and 
stately pillars. Now the rulers, those who occupy the bridge, cannot be so beside themselves as ti> 
knock away the pillars that support the whole fabric." 

The Constitution was formed on the idea that all powers granted to the General Government 
were "specially defined" or "enumerated,'' and that all powers not "specially defined," or "not enum- 
erated," are retained bv each of the ^tates. 

In the formation and adoption of the Constitution, the States were the only agents. The State l,e 
gislatures appointed the delegates to the Convention. While there, they voted by States. Each dele 
gation made its report to the Legislature or Governor of the States. The Convention which assem- 
bled iu the several States to ratify or reject the Constitution was appointed by the people of the sev 
eral States. The parties to the "Constitutional Compact" were the State. Roger Sherman says : 
— " And the Government of the United States being federal^ and instituted by a number of sovereign 
States for the better security of their rights, and, the advancement of their interests," &c. — 
Letter to John Adams. 

The motion was made in the Convention to give Congress power to negative all State laws contra ■ 
vening the artides of Union, and thus to abridge the rights of the several States. This motion was 
rejected by a vote of seven States against three. 

Thursday, May 31, 1787— In the plan of a Constitution proposed by Governor Randolph, and gener- 
ally adopted by the Convention, provision was made "authorizing the exertion of the force of tlw 
flther States against, a delinquent State." The effect of this would be to abridge the rights of the 
iStates. 

Mr. Madison observed, "that the more he reflected on the use of force, the rhore he doubted the 
practicability, ths justice, and the efficacy of it, when applied to a people collectively and not individ- 
ually . A union of the States, containing such an ingredient, seemed to provide for its own aestruc- 
tiou. The use offeree against a State would look more like a declaration of war than an inlliction 
of punishment, and would probably be considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all pre 
vious compacts by which it might" be boand. He hoped such a system might be framed as would 
render this resource unnecessary, and moved that tho-clause be postponed. This motion was agreed 
l6. nem. con.'' — [Madison Papers, p. 761. 

Alexander Hamilton used the following language on the same nubject. After referring to the case 
of Shay's I'.ijbelliou, in which military force could be properly er.-.'i'oyed, and for which "Massaohu 
setts was inaking provision," by State authority, he adds : "But how can this force be e.xerted ou 
the States collectively '? (against State authority.) It is impossible. It amounts to a declaration of 
war between the parties. Foreign Powers, also, will not be idle spectators. They will' interpose ; 
the confusion will increase, anl a dissolution of the Union will ensue."— [^VacKso/i Papers, p. SSI. 

Thus it appears that uo State can constitutionally be coerced by the other States by force or 
arms. 

In the Convention, so determined were the advocates of State Rights not to give up certain ot 
these to the General Government, that the Conventi'on came to a deau stand, and was in danger of 
falling entirely to accomplish the object for which they assembled. Charles Piackney declared that 
for nearly six weeks, the small States particularly struggled to obtain erpial power in both branches. 

The term " United Stales," was in constant use when the Constitution was framed, with a fixed 
and definite meaning in the minds of men, namely, the same as in the Articles of Confederation 
That documeni is described as " Articles on Confederation and perpetual union between the States of 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts," &c. 

Akticle I.— "Ihe stvle of this Confederacy shall be the 'United States of America " 

Now, it IS evident that the term "United States" in the Constitution, means the same that it 
does in the Articles of Confederation, and is equivalent to Xew Hampshire, Massachusetts, &c., uni- 
i«d or the States united They formed a union by a compact between themselves. 

' ARTICLE VJI. — 'The ratification of the conventions of nine Slates shall be sufBcient for the estab- 
liahinent of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same." There the word is between not 
tver. The Constitution is a eompact between the States. "We, the people of the United States," ev- 



9 

idently mean the same as we the people ot New Hainii-hire, Massachusetts, &c., taken srvrrally, a:ifl 
not adlestivelij ; that is, the people of Xew HiimiiHliirc ami the people of MassuchiiPetts,A:c. Tlie peo- 
ple wao viili'd for the Coii.stitution of i-"tfiios must liave I'lulerstood the phrase as meaning the same ::i 
the ("onslitutioii that it lioes in the Artitle.-; of ronfcJeration, namely the people of tlie several States, 
and not the pc'oi)le of America, taken colUrAicdy as one people. It was a majority of thu people ci 
tach State acting by itself that adopted the Constiiiit iou, and not a majority of the people of till the 
States taken collectively. ' 

Indicu, the peop'e of all the States have never acted tojetbcr as one wbo'c. Kvenin tb? election 
or President, the people vote by separate iilates, not for a President, but for .SVa<e ^tchra. A majority 
of the people of the whole country do not appoint electors, but a majoriiv of each separaU^ i:ate. If 
the electors fail to elect a President, then the .-^Uites 83 States iu Conaiess ai?:emb!e 1, appoint the 
President ; Khode Island having oue voie aid New York no more. And if t'^e Ho ise of Reiiresenta- 
tives fail of making a choice, the Senate, apoo'uted by the Several States, si)al! e'ect a vice Presi 
dent, who shall act as Prcsider.t of ti>e States. 

Dr. Johnson, m tne State Conveniiou ia Harford, convened January 17, J 788, to ratify the Federal 
Constitution, said : ''The Constitution vesis in the gCLieral legislature a power to make '?W3 in mat 
ters of national concern ; toappoint jac-'^iCi to decido upon those laws ; and to appoint off'ft'^s i ) carry 
Ibem into execution. Tim excLxides the i'l'M of an ann'l ff„-K. 'li e power which is to cnfo"Ce thogi' 
laws is to he a legal power, vessel in the magistrate — (not milit; -y) the force which is to be eui 
ployed ore/'/ upon in-Hviduals woo fail in their iluty to t.ieir country. This is the glory of the Consti- 
tution, tint it depends upon the mild ami etjual energy of the linigistracy for the execution of the 
laws '■ — (not upon military coercion.) 

Oliver Ellsworth, Jan. 7, 1788, in the State Couvontiou, Hartford, 1788, said :— " We see how 
necessary tor the Tnion is a coercive principle. Xo man pretends to the contrary. We all see and 
feel this necessity. The only question is, shall it bo a coercion of law, or a coeroiou of arms ? Thero 
is no other po-^siolo ulternative. Where would those, who ojipose a coercion of law, come out? 
Where will they cud? A necessary consequence of their principles is a war of the States, one against 
the other. I aia lor coercion by law ; that coercion which acts only upon delinquent individuals. 
'Jtie Constitulvm dots not aliempl to coerce sovereign bodies — States in their political capacity. Xo cder 
cion is applicable to such bodies but that of armed force. If we should attempt to execute the law*! 
of the Union by sending an armed fcrce against a delinquent Slate, it would involve the good and bad, 
the innocent and gailty, in the same calamity. P.ut this legal coercion singles out the guilty indi- 
vidual, and punishes liini for breakii ■! the laws." 

So much for the intention of the fra-ner 5 of the Constitution, and the Constitution itself. But wp 
have more modern autiiority for the doctrine of State sovereignly. It has not only been the univer- 
sal belief of all the Democratic slatusnen, but those of oppo.'ite party position have recognized it 
also. 

The following clauses of our Revised Statutes ^vcre enacted without ojiposition, and by a body 
numbering many of our most distinguished statesmen : 

" The sovereignty and jurisdiction of this St;i^e shall extend to all the places within the bounds- 
ries thereof." Again: ■• It shall be the duty of the (Jove rnor, and of all the subordinate officers of 
the State, to maintain and defend its sovo. dignty and jurisdiction." 

All these high authorities establisli the fact that is enunciated iu the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, that all the powers of our government are derivi'd from the people, and that the people are 
sovereign over the legislatures and all otdcial authorities. And further, that the people have dele 
gated certain specified pov\-ers of sovereignty to be e.Kcrcisod by the Federal Government and re 
serveil all others to the States and the people thereof. So that the Government of the United State.s 
exercises a sovereignty within the limitation of granted powers, and the autaorities of the respective 
."States exerci.=e all other sovereign powers. Hence it follows that allegiance is due to the United 
States as to delegated prerogatives oi" sovereignty and to the respective State* as to all others. 

Ilalso follows that loyally is duo to the Unite 1 States only so far as the Feteral Government acts 
within the scope of its delegated powers and no further, and that in all other respects loyalty is du» 
to the respective States. Treason l"ollows-and is dependent on allegiance. Where there is"no alle- 
giance there can be no treason. Hence treason against tlie Federal Government consists in overt 
acts against the exercisi's of its delegated powers of sovereignty, and treason against a State is war 
ring against it in the exercise of its undelegated rights and powers. 

THE r,ENKR-iI. GOVERNMH.Vl' CANXOT COERCE STATES BY MILITARY POWER. 

Now, if, as is thus proven, the States, as such, are sovereign, and that the Federal Govcrumaat 
Is simply a compact between the parties, with authority exceedingly restricted and definitely liml 
ied,cau this feeble authority make war upon the States? We are not without authority on this 
pomt. 

The. authorities already quoted are clear on this head. By reference to them it is plain that thv 
framers of the Constitution and the State authorities which moditicd it did not co.iceive that there 
was anv military power of coercion in the General Government as against delinquent States. The 
legal i-jwer to do so is referred to, but not the war power. In tie language of Oliver Ellsworth, 
while udmitting the necessity of the coercive in principle, " the Constitution does not attempt to coerce 
Ktvereif, I bodies — States — in the poli'.ijcal capacities.'' Again, he says : " 1 am for a coercion of law.'- 
Madisoa and Jefferson also declared similar opinions. And this it is evident was the design. 
Therefore, :his war of the General Government against the South is illegal, being unconstitutional, 
and shouU uot be sustained if we are to regard the Constitution as still binding and in force. It is a 
violatioa <: ' the great American Ma^na Vliarta which secures the independent sovereignty of the 
States of t .0 Union. 

There .s nothing in the Constitution which authorizes the agent of the principal, (for it is such a 
relation that the President bears to the Slates,) to use the army placed at his disposal by this princi 
pal against the principal itself. At the lime such an agency was created, none of the parties to it« 
creation thought of such a thing. It is unnecessary to say that such a power could not have been 
conferred. It is a seif-evident proposition. No indnpenuent State at any period of the world ever 
voluntarily relinquished sovereign power, much lets created ajnaster and conferred upon him the 
absolute authority to coerce it or to subjugate it. Chief Justice Dana, in the Massachusetts Couven 
tion for the ratification of the Constitution, said IhiM •■ The Federal Government springs out of. and 
liaa alone be broueht into existence by the Slate Governments, demolish the latter and there is au 
ead of the f«rmer/' The Union was founded on the great principles of mutual protection, mutual 



10 < 

interest, and fqual rights in whatever eouceins our persons, privileges and property. The least dis- 
crimination in the Constitution in favor of or against the enjoyment of any one of these would have 
been fatal to its adoption, and so long as the principles upon which it was adopted shall be preserved, 
not only by the parties to it, but by the government created by it, so long can the Union exist and 
no longer. As was truly said by a distinguished gentleman of this State, " Successful coercion is as 
much revolution as successful secession." 

HOW CAN DBMOCRATS SCSTAIN THIS WAR? 

Having thus shown that it is the duty of the Democratic party to return to its own principles and 
to reiterate them — that the chief of them is, that the States are sovereign and independent, and that 
tlie General Government is feeble and dependent, and has not therefore military power by which to 
coerce the States into compliance against their own idea of law, right and justice, we declare thai, 
admitting that the power exists, its exercise is inconsistent with Union. If civil war is inconsistent 
with federative Union, so is Union inconsistent with war. 

But suppose none of these objections existed to the present war, how can the Democratic party 
sustain it? Its objects are not left to supposition. They have been proclaimed by the President, by 
the action of the late Congress, and by the practice of the army itself. It is not to sustain or to r.j 
store the Federal Union, but to destroy and uproot the domestic institution of States, to destroy pri- 
vate property, and to subvert the form and theory of the Federal Government itself. 

To support the war is to su]3port.the policies of the war. This proposition is too plain to be dis 
puted ; from it there is no escape. To support the war is to support confiscation — not by the courts 
under the Constitution, but by acts of Congress contrary to the Constitution ; emancipation and ai bi 
irary arrests, not by any lawful authority, but by the monstrous and frightful usurpations of tli'- 
President ; subjugation, not to bring the South back into the Union, but to reduce it to the condition 
of Territories and convert it into one vast San Domingo. These are the policies of th# war, and if the 
war shall be successful, these policies will be accomplished. 

The professed Democrat, therefore, who is deliberately for the war, is not a Democrat in'fact but 
an Abolitionist of the most radical, violent, and destructive kind. It is useless for a person to say 
that ho is for the war for one set o( purposes, when the war is not prosecuted for anj' of those pur- 
lioses, but for opposite and antagonistic purposes. This is to stultify himself. The Abolitionists do 
not care on what pretences or professions people support the war ; they only ask that they will sup- 
port it on some pretense, for the policies of the war being fixed, support of it on whatever pretense 
inures to the aid of those policies just as certainly and effectively as support of it on the positive 
ground of these policies. How can Democrats indorse such a war ? How can the Democratic party 
as a party sustain such a war f By indorsing the war, we of necessity indorse the policy of those 
who prosecute it in chief command. To support the former and at the same time oppose the latter 
is an absurdity. To do the one, we necessarily do the other. The President's Emancipation Proc- 
lamation and the war go hand in hand together. It is pusilanimous to carp at the moral pigmies of 
the crisis while we cling to its giant. Jhis War ■^the curse of the age in which we live. Without it 
we would have retained all the liberties now lost. /Without war there had been no abridgment of 
liberty of person, of speech, of the press, or onerous taxes to pay, or issuance of negro proclamations. 
True these are not necessarily concomitants of war, but only so when is is managed by negro philan 
thropists. ■ 'ley have had the management of it thus far, and will continue so to manage it as long 
as it lasts. This war has been the pretext for all tlie wrongs against which the Democratic parly 
protest, and the "war power" the instrument of their accomplishment. 

PROCLAIM FOR PEACE. 

Then if the Democracy would work a reformation they must strike at the cause of evil. The 
continuance of the war will be fatal to our liberties. Suppose that the war be continued for two 
years more by the assistance of Democrats, would there be a vestige of civil liberty left? Of what 
use would Democratic victories be then? It would be out of the power of any party to restore the 
government to the old order of things. But in that event we could get no victories. The whole legi- 
timate and usurped power of the government wielded by the unscrupulous demairogues who now con- 
trol it would be more than a match for any political combination that might be formed against them. 
The only road to Democratic viet(/rie3 is through peace. Why should politicians fear that a Peace party 
may prove ucijopular. If the war has damned the Republican party, is it not logical to suppose that 
a peace policy might prosper the opposition? Do the people love war more than jjeace? Do they pre 
ler the hardshii)S of the camp, the dangers of the battle field, the onus of taxation, to the comforts, 
the pleasures, the prosperity of i)eaceful homes ? But this matter is beyond the control of politicians. 
The great body of the people are tired of the war, and demand peace on the basis of existing facts, 
and politicians cannot change their views in this respect. If the men, who now occupy the position 
of leaders, do not see and recognize this fact, they will be forced to give place to men who do see it. 
The people have been traded and trucked about so much during the war, by old political hacks, that 
they have become suspicious and restive, and refuse to be sold any more. 

Again, in addition to these irresistible and sufficient reasons why the Democratic party should de- 
clare for Peace, is the palpable common sense and hard-headed fact that the war cannot succeed. 
We have been beaten. We cannot conquer the South. A glance at all history would have told this 
before it was undertaken had we read it aright. No purely agricultural people in a state of revolt 
contending for their domestic rights have over yet been subjugated ; and no revolted people who 
have been able to maintain an independent government for a twelvemonth have been conquered or 
put down. The last twelvemonth has united the South, and though we had twice our power they 
could .luccessfully resist us. As invaders wo arc impotent. To equalize the chances of war, the in 
vaders should ixisse.ss ten times the power and every advantage of position. That is not this case. 
.411 the power of the then colos.sal Spanish empire under Charles V., and the succeeding Philips, failed 
to conquer two or three miserable Dutch provinces, almost Lilliputian in extent. Kven petty and 
contiguous Portugal expelled victoriously from its soil all the hosts of the same still greater power. 
Not in vain stands recorded in more ancient history the imperishable record of Marathon ; and in our 
own day we have seen the miserable Mexican rabble soldiery driving the best <lisciplined army of 
Kurope from their soil, because the latter were invaders. 

God did not intend that we should Succeed in this war. Had he intended it he would not have 
pUiced in command a Lincoln, with such coadjutors as a Butler or a Buruside. We will not compare 
these men to a Davis or a Lee or a Stonewall Jackson. ]t is not necessary. Mind, character and 
wapttcily will always evince, declare and maintain its superiority. These qualities will triumph 



11 

sooner or later, it matters not how, far greater the physical rcKources in the hands of the opposite 
qualities. The Rom;in coniinonwealth, in s|>itc of territory, population, armies and resources, was 
destroyed from wautiug any mind Ijy wliicii the mind of Ca^^ar i-ould lie Ijalanced and encounteri'd. 
Holland was lost to Spain when the l^rince of Urange and Prince; ilanrieo were superior to all the 
viceroys and the captains the mother country could oppose to them. The South American dependen 
cies were gone when she had no opponent of Bolivar. The civil wars of France, after every kind of 
trial and of vicissitude, all closed in the pre-eminence of Henry IV', in head and heart the master of 
his epoch. The Carlists had not any match for Kspartero ; the Sardinians had not any equal of Ra 
detslcy. The same lesson is impressed on us by the collision of Washington and George lU, of 
Charles I and Cromwell. It is true that history need not repeat itself and that events are neither 
bound by theories or precedents. Hut such exi)erieuee at least m»y forcibly suggest to us, that had 
the Ruler of the world designed .Southern subjugation, .an instrument more powerful than that of Mr. 
Lincoln and his colleagues, would be seen conducing to his purpose. It is not going beyond the 
bounds of caution to allege, that a new chapter will be opened in the annals of mankind, if, on this 
unrivalled scene the qualities which they regard witli scorn are found triumphant over those which 
they agree to follow and to reverence. But last of all, if Mr. Lincoln and his colleagues could succeed 
against the leader and tlio armies which oppose them, could they succeed against their own con 
sciousness — revealed to us by many signs, of incapacity to do so? 

In this connection we must refer to the ludicrous attempts that are made upon every military 
reverse to attribute the result to every other than the true cause. When a battle is fought, it is 
generally lost, and then come the reasons, — sometimes the Commanding General has omitted to obey 
the orders of his superiors, or an obedience to their orders was the cause ; or again, he has moved 
too slow or not been properly supported — now he had an inferior force, then an adverse position, 
and, in turn, all the various causes to which military defeats are attributable, arc served up to the 
credulous people. We never hear the truth. If auy know it, none dare tell it. The hand of God ii 
uplifted against us. His illimitable power overturns all our designs and subverts all our plans. 

He shapes our destinies " rough hew them as we may." 

THE DBMOCRATIC LKGISLATTVK ADDRESS. 

The address recently issued by the Democratic members of the Legislature, declared in favor of 
conducting the war according to the Constitution. How does the Constitution provide for the con 
duct of a war against itself aud tl)e Union ? The war being unconstitutional, it cannot be prosecuted 
constitutionally. The South conducts it in opposition to the Constitution, and the Nortii conducts it 
outside of the Constitution. It is an unconstitutional war. The Declaration of Independence says, 
that "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." To favor the war 
now, after the rebellion has assumed the proportions of revolution, is to deny this principle as well 
as to deny the right of revolution. Whenever wo cease to recognize the principle that the consent of 
the governed is essential to free government, we lay down the foundation of despotism. Written 
Coustitutiims can only be maintained by strict construction in S])irit as well as by letter of their pro 
visions. We can see no consistency in endeavoring to make an issue between supporting the war and 
the emancipation Proclamation. U would be an issue that involved no principle. A party to be per 
manenlly successful, must be built upon principle, aud not upon mutable facts. If the General Gov 
ernment have the moral or constitutional right to make war upon the States for its own salvation, 
then it is without restraint as to the means used directly for that purpose, except in the manner of 
using those means. The Constitution does not limit the number of men that Congress may call to 
arms, nor specify what color they shall be, but it directs how they shall be mustered in and man 
aged. If the Government has the right to bombard the cities, burn the property, and divide the 
States of the South, it has a right to say that one particular species of their property may be wrested 
from them by any means not inconsistent with civilized war. Tlie Emancipation Proclamation is not 
so clearly a violation of principle aud an assumption of arbitrary power as the division of the State of 
Virginia. Why, then, make opposition to it a specialty in politics. But it is said this is necessary 
if " we would maintain our parly ascendency." Is the ascendency of our party the highest gooil ^ 
Should wo .sacrilioe principle tor the sake of partizan success? If the Democracy cannot gain and 
maintain ascendency except through sacrifice of principle and the life-blood of the American people, 
we say let it go down. But we will not admit that such a policy is necessary to the success of the 
Democratic Party. It would be but a negative policy at mo.st, and could not fire the hearts of the 
peoiile. Opposition to the Proclamation vvi>uld not defeat its operation. If the Democracy should 
longer adhere to the policy of mere faull-tinding, even should it eventuate in victories at the ballot 
bo.K, they will in tho end bo defeated. The measures to which they are offering a feeble resistance 
at the polls, will, through the instrumentality of the war, become policies of the Government and 
historical precedents for the coming future. 

IS RE-UNIOX ATTAIN ABLE? 

Who daro say that it is not. As far off and as ominous as appearances w^ould indicate it to be, it 
is no more so than was the probability of the success of the Colonies when the American revolution 
commenced. We cannot bcdieve that all love of the Union has been obliterated from the Southern 
heart. There must be many great and good men there, in whose bosom beats the glow of honest pa 
triotism and love for that country, tho greatuess of which came alone from unity. A distinguished 
Southern statesman, Reverdy Johnson, bears testimony to this. In a letter to a New York paper, 
dated the loth, ilay last, he says : 

" But tho errors of the past cannot be corrected. We can only learn from them wisdom for the 
future. What does that teach us? Is it that no Union feeling is now to be found in the Southern 
States? Is it that it is so totally e.xtinct that to revive it is impossible ? I do not think so. The Guth 
ries and Wicklilfes, tho Joneses, the Rodneys, and the Bates, the Rives and the Summers, the RuiUns 
and the Moreheads, aud the thousands and thou.sands who united with them still have in their hearts 
as pure as ever, love of the Union which their fathers constructed. Satisfy them that the war ended, 
that Union will be as it was intended to be and was before treason and fanaticism involved us in tlie 
existing frightl'ul struggle, and much, very much, will be done to bring the struggle to an end, and 
to restore our former nationality. We shall then, too, know each otner the better, and value each 
other the more. Courage has been found a common possession — mistakes as to character corrected, 
love of freedom is seen to be equally sincere, aud we shall be more lirmly convinci'd than we have 
«v«r been that Union under all the guarantees of personal aud State rights which our fathers provi- 



12 

(led, can alone make us what they intended and believed thai they had accomplished through their 
blood and wisdoui, the froesl and the happiest, and one of thi' most influential nations of the 
world.'" 

We have positive assurances that as late as lust Becembei" ovei'tures were made looking to re- 
union, and we believe many proniii'tnt men of the Sonth but wait for r demonstration like this to 
respond to our call lor Peace. • ' 

CONCI L'SIO.V. 

Let the immortal .Jefl'er.^nn speak. H'.ar h:-; voice, coming up a:. \ were, from the tomb. He 
•leclared for -'the supremacy of the c.'vii over the military authority — ^oouomy in The public ex- 
penses — diffi'sion of infornia oj,»arr! arraicrnment of aii abus-?s at the bnr of pi-bh'c opinion, free- 
dom of Religion, freedom of the Pre;;-; .•':'!'.'i >eeciomof persos, rrt'^r protection of the habeas corpus, 
and trial by Jury impartially selected. J :■ : -e princ;»!e.<rorm'ti:e bright conste'lat-.cn v.-h;ch has gone 
l)fifore n.i and guarded our s"teps throjEjii pu age of revolution ar.ri reformation. 'Il'ie ivisdom of our 
sages and the blood of o,ir heroes have L'?'"'! devotod to tbeir a.teiriment. They shcvJd be the creed 
nf o'.u' political fa 'th, the test of civil iD^;ri!ct!on, the tor.clistoce by wh'ch to try the services of those 
ivft trust ; and .-ihoi'iu we wander from uit;n iJ momeMts of alarm, kt us imstcn to retrace oi^r steps, 
and regain the roBo. N-liich alone ieacls to peace, liberty and safety." 

Let this war go on aii'l we iiaye lost '■'■ Peace, Liberty and ^'afety." Its continuance even for 
another yea'; almost insares th's result. Civil war is of itself sufficiently destructive even without 
encroachments upon T.e rigl'ts o" the people, but the present war, conducted upon the policies of our 
rulers, will forever f ■: = i out no:, only the reserved riglits of the States, but change the General Gov- 
ernment itself from a republic to a despotism. Imleed, it has in effect accompiishod such a changt- 
already. Let men who profess to be i)emocrats rid themselves of participating in such a crime. 
Let the great States Plights Democratic party, standing, as it has always done, upon popular liberty, 
refuse its sanction to so gross a perversion of its own time-honored creed. If our country is to be en- 
slaved by war, if its fair fields and its happy homes are to be made the prey of wild fanaticism, and 
the life-blood. of freedom is to mark the road of a victorious army, then let the task be finished by 
those who now wield the scepter of our national power, for such is not the mission of Democracy. 
The country has nothmg to gain bj putting " War Democrats '■ (as they insiduously call themselves) 
into power. There is no diflerenco between " War Democrats" and " War Republicans.'" They 
graze on the same pasture and drink at the same fountain, and if the war must bo continued with all 
its portents of evil and the Constitution and the Union become^he inevitable sacrifice, it is belter 
that Democracy should wear the chains of despotism to the grave of liberty than become the exe- 
cutioner of the country's ireedom. 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Unsolved, That the electors and people of the State of New York who have hitherto professed 
Ihe name and held to the prmoiples known as Democratic, desire to declare their unalterable at- 
tachment as well to those truths, as to the Constitution and the amendments thereto, forming thw 
supreme law of the land ; that they regard obedience to the Constitution as alike the duty of tlte 
ciiizeu and ihe magistrate, and regard such obedience as the only means of perpetuating the t'niou, 
and by it the only hope of restoring the same. 

Resolved, That the sovereignty of the States and the sovereignty of the people as laid down in 
the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, of which .lefterson and Madison were the authors, are the 
T'andamental principles of the uemocratic party ; that they arc the vital essence of the Constitution, 
pervading every line and provision of that instrimient, and to deny them would reduce our political 
Federative system to anarchy or despotism. 

Resolved, That under th«i Constitution there is no power in the Federal Government to coeice 
Itio ^taies, or any number of them, by military force. If power of coercion exists at aU, it is a 
legal power and not military. That the Democratic party if true to its own time-honored principles 
cannot sustain war against sovereign Slates, that we believe it to be the duty of the party to pro 
claim these sentiments boldly, that the people may feel that there is at least one political organiza- 
tion which will deal honestly, independently and truthluUy wiih them. 

Resolved, That the war in its inception and further continuance, being contrary to tho Conatitu 
tion, must necessarily fast consume all the elements of Union, and hence that our duty as citizens, 
our obligations as men, and our re'ations to our common Father, alike demand that an end should 
be put to what is repugnant to the law, abhorrent to the humanity and civilization of this enlight- 
ened era, and inconsistent with the benignant spirit of morality and religion. 

Resolved, Thai attempts to do away with the provisions of the Constitution, which point out the 
mode in which all crimes are to be punished, are high-handed violations of the sworn duties of our 
rulers, and that the participants in such a policy are guilty of aiming a parricidal blow at the very 
life of the suproiuo law. 

Resolved, That the claim of dictatorial and unlimited power, under the pretext of military neces- 
sity, and the trial of citizens not hi the land or naval forces or in the militia in actual service, by 
courts martial, are monstrous in theory and execrable in practice. That it is equivalent to an en- 
lire abrogation of the Cojstiluuon and the etection in its place of a ni'litary despotism. 

Resolved, That the dogma of unlimited submission to tho wUl of the Executive branth of the 
(iovernment is unworthy an American citizen, and inconsistent with the principles of constitutional 
liberty : that such a concession is rather suited lo the darlc and sullen era of feudrfl despotism than 
to a time when the rights of man are regarded even by monarchs, and we attribute this exhibition 
of ab.leci servility as dictated by a spirit ol fanaticism bent on effecting its object even at the sacn 
fioe of personal liberty. 

Resftlved, That we should be unworthy of the name of American citizens of this free and inde 
pendent State, claiming the first rank among the sovereign cumpouents of ttie American Confede- 
racy, if we did not protest against the cowardly, despotic, inhuman and accursed act' which has con- 
signed to banishment the noble tribune of the people — the Hon. Clement L. Vallandigham ; we pro- 
test against it in the name of liberty, in the name of humanity, and in tho name of Washington. 
We hope the people of Ohio will have the upportunily of passing condemnation of this act by th« 
election of Mr. Vallandiglmm as the next Governor uf the State. 



13 

Beiolvti, That thus bclieviug there oau b« tio icli.ililc security to pcrsoQS or property pendinj 
this war, aod thai by its continuance the Government itself will bo utterly and irrcvocal>ly subver- 
ted — and that the South as well as the N'orlh must alike crumble into general ruin and devastation, 
wo recommend, in the name of the people, tnal there be a suspension of hostilities between the con- 
tending armies of the divided sections of our country, and that a Coav?uljon of the States compooing 
the Confederate Slates, atid a separate Convention of the States still adhering to the Union, be hold 
to Anally settle and determine iu what manner and by vvliat mode the contending sections shall b<> 
reconciled, ami appealing to the ruler of all for the rectitude of our intentions, we implore tboso in 
authority to listen to the voice of reason, of patriotism, and of justice. 

Jiesolved, That to the end that our principles thus jiublicly avowed may bo piactically carried 
out, and that a State authority emanating directly from the people may exist, to call any future con- 
rentioiis of the I'eace Uemocracy, if it shall become expedient or necessary, and disilaiuiing any in- 
tention to distract the Democratic organization in this State so long as it shall rcllect the sentiment* 
of the masses, the foU'wing named gentlemen, representing each Congressional District, are appoint- 
ed as a State Committee for that purpose, with full jiower to take such action in behalf ot the siicce«i 
of our principles as may secin to them just and proper : 

District. /'istriri 

1.. EDWARD A. l.AWKKXCK 17.. JOSEPH A. FLANDERS. 

•i.-PArPvICK FIT//iERALD, 18. . THOMAS G. rOUXG, 

3.. EDWARD POWERS, 19.. WM. B. SANDS 

4..ALV1.N' W. LOCKWOOD. 23..\ATilAN' WHITING. 

5 FERVANDO WOOD, 21..NUKMAN MAU'ftY, 

6.. PETER FULLMK.R, •22..SAMUEE AVERY, 

7..C. WINTHaoP CHANLER, 2.3.. AMOS B. KING. 

.S...V. HILL FOWLER, 2i..W.M U. CUVLER. 

9..R0BEKT B. BRADFORD, 25.. PETER McKEY, 

10..ISA.\C BIRDSALL, 26.. JOHN' I. VA.N' ALLEN. 

11.. ARCHIBALD C. XIVEN. 27..F. C DINNINXY, 

12.. FRANCIS BURDICK, 28.. N. K. PAINE. 

13. .S. N1>.H0L, 29..W.M. BINGHaM. 

14.. A J MI' LS, 30..W.M. H ABELL, 

•15. .LEVI S.\11TH, 31. .L. L. PRATT, 

16.. OLIVER KKESE, 

Aftei" the applause he read the addi'ess, the saUeut seutiuieuts of whioh wera 
loudly cheered. ^Vheu that part of the addi'ess was read relating to the impos- 
sibility of subjugating the South, the deepest feeling was manifested, with cries, 
" The ^outh never can be couquei-ed. " At the mention of Lincoln's name groans 
came from all parts of the Hall, and when his coadjutor, Burnside, was named, 
the avidience required the passage to be read three times, amid groans and im- 
precations. Gen. McClellan was then loudly cheered. The sentiment was ap- 
plauded rei.>ea*:edly, that no Democrat could endorse the war. When Dr. Brad- 
ford read the phrase, "proclaim for peace," the hall presented the wildest con- 
fusion — men rising iu their seats and waving hiits and handkerchiefs with shouts* 
aiid cries of ' ' Peace, peace. " 

In reading the resoiutioiis, the name of ilr. V'allandigham was uttered, when 
three cheers were given with intense enthusiasm. 

Tlie Hofl. J, O. Flanders then moved that the address and resolutions be adopt- 
ed. They were unanimously adopted. 

The Hon. Mr. Flanders then said : Iu the absence of the Chairman of 
the Committee on Invitations, wlio is now discharging a patriotic duty at 
one of the stands outside, lam called upon to perform his dutj'. I regret 
to say that there has been a disappointment in the non-attendance of distinguish- 
ed gentlemen, whom we expected to address us to-night. Among the answers, 
however, of the distinguished gentlemen who have responded cordially to the 
prtissmg invitations, I shall confine myself to three. All the letters will be pub- 
)i-ihed in to-nioiTow's papers for j'our perusal. 

The tirst letter is from that gallant gentleman, high-toned patiiot, and true 
and loyal Democrat, the Hon. Thomas H. Seymour, of Connecticut. [Innacnse 
applause.] 

The next letter is fiv^m a victim of militaiy oppression, the gallant advocate of 



14 

liberty and peace principle — Senator James W. Wall, of New Jersey. [Great 
applause. ] 

The next letter is from Senator A. J. Bayard, of Delaware. 

I will also read a short letter from Mr. Bayard's colleague in the Senate of th» 
United States — the Hon. Wallard Saulsbury, 

The Chairman then introduced the Hon. Albert R. Wootten, Attorney General 
of the State of Delaware. He was received with immense applause. 

Speech of the Hon. ALBERT R. WOOTTEN. 

Mr. Chairman and Fellow Freemen of New York : I thank you for the honor 
of addressing you this night, notwithstanding you are partially held down by the 
tyrannical chains of Mr. Lincoln's xinfortunate Administration. I have the pleas- 
ure to represent the little State of Delaware [applause] that has felt and trembled 
beneath the tyrannical power of an imbecile and despotic Administration — an 
Administration that while it pretended to represent the flag of your counti-j'. 
was Slicking like a leach its life-blood and di'agging eveiy vital part of this 
glorious Union down to the verge of destruction. [Applause. ) Under that Ad- 
ministration, my fellow-citizens, that never even from the hour of its birth had 
an imaginary idea of preserving intact and perfect the Constitution and the Union. 
I hold that it is my duty to stand by the Constitution. I hold that the Republi- 
can party, with Mr. Lincoln at its head (groans, ) if tried by due process of law, 
would be convicted, sentenced, and hanged. [Great applause. ] The present 
Administration have violated your most sacred rights. They stand to-day de- 
graded in the eyes of all humanity — an insult to the flag, and traitors before their 
God. [Applause.] Too long they have exercised — what? The control of the 
counti-y ; the printing press under their elbow ; the sword in their hand ; the 
musket leveled. What can consummate'their great crime ? The do-mrfa 1 of that 
liberty for which Washington fought and which the Democratic party have ever 
maintained — the freedom of speech — the right of the people to speak, i^nd that 
voice will ever go up to Heaven. What was Russia ? What is she now ? With- 
out intending any disrespect to my native land, for I worship it upon the platform 
of the Constitution, I must say that Riissia, with a tjTanical scepter and the sword 
of oppression waving over her subjects has never dared to exercise the oppression 
and despotism of Lincoln and his administration. Russia heard the voice of her 
people in changing her local institutions — the most despotic power in Europe. — 
American people, from whence did you spring ? Why did j'ou cross that great 
and mighty ocean, helplessly tossed about on the billows of fortune ? That you 
might think and speak for yourselves, your own sentiments ! Then peace and 
good will were proclaimed to each and every man who honored his rights and 
respected his government in old Philadelphia— then the Father of his Country 
held in his hand the Constitution, and Independence Hall rang with the speech 
of freemen. , 

Just look at the record of the little State of Delaware. When the Administra- 
tion found that the voice of her people was in favor of peace — when they de- 
posited their votes at the ballot box to put down such a miserable and contompt- 
ible Governor as we have — when I went to deposit my vote at the ballot-box I ap- 
proached it under the crossed bayonets of Lincoln's menials. [Groans.] Look 
now, where Delaware stands. I fear not the Administration, I had rather die 
than that my voice and opinions (which I am proud to say have ever been Dem- 
ocratic), than that my tongue should be changed. Every Democrat in the histo- 
ry of the country has had the right to speak for his country's good. When they 
speak in favor of peace they speak for the interest of that country that recognizes 
the riglit of revolution, the right of liberal criticism, and more especially the right 
to criticise the Administration when it is weak, imbecile and tottering to the 
ground. Why a hound might hunt Lincoln and never find him by an honest 
scent. [Laiighter and applause.] Financially burthened as the State of Dela- 
ware is, when she iidopted the Constitiition she gave, and as long as my voice 
can be heard I will give mine, her indorsement to the Constitution, and I know it 
will be ever antagonistic to the Republican party. Must I indorse every act of 
the Administration, when by their course and conduct the noble men who have 
fallen victims to this war rise up against them ? and also because Chase and his 



15 

menials fill their pockets with " green backs," instead of possessing well merited 
•'red backs." As for Valandigham [immense applause], they have paid him 
the highest compliment that could be paid to patriotism. If they to-day would 
honcw me with such a banishment, I would exclaim, vnth Cataliue : ' ' Though 
banished from Home, I am free from the contact of things I loathe," [A voice : 

" Three cheers for Clement L Vallandigham," which were given with eflfect.] 

Why, sir, when that man returns from a banishment for having expressed the 
sentiments of three-fourths of the people of this coxmtry, the echo (jf his greatness 
will sweep the land from mountains to lakes. I am a Union man, and I would 
like to see the South come back into the once glorious Union, but I detWit and 
denounce and abhor the present Administration — fatal to the rights, fatal to the 
principles and unquestionably chaining the will of the people. If he is wrong, he 
shoTild meet the fate that wrong has always met. (A voice, "hanged.") You, 
my fellow citizens of New York — the great ' ' Empire State" — you have the pow- 
er, and if I were you I would exercise it. [Great applause.] You cannot tell 
where you will be carried and the end that may be yours if you bow not and re- 
spect not the Constitiition. I never knew a Democrat but would reverence the 
Constitution; I never knew a Kepublican but would detest it, because the Consti- 
tution is right and the Abolitionists are always wrong. Yoti must act and think for 
yourselves. Come forth and let your proclamation be peace, [(ireat applause. ] 
That you will constitutionally put down that Burnside. [Groans.] He has not 
the dignity of a despot, though performing his acts ; he is like the angel that 
fell from Heaven. You must look to your own interests. I am very happy to 
meet this vast assemblage of freemen. [The Hon. Fernando Wood, then ap- 
peared upon the platform, when immense applause came from all parts of the 
hall, interspersed with loud cries of " Wood, Wood!"] I see my distinguished 
friend has arrived. I would that this hall was filled 'svith Woods, [Applause. ] 
It is a piece of timber in this platform that defies the insults of the Lincoln Ad- 
ministration. When we find that this war has failed, if we have not found it 
out already, — When we find that this war has failed, the dead bones of the Dem- 
ocratic party will do to cover uj) the retreating Kepublicans from the gaze of 
those who have an utter contempt for them. [Applause and laughter. ) That 
great and glorious flag, the emblem of the Democratic party — the Union, now 
and forcRer-^it speaks for itself. Alas, for that flag, for the' Republicans have 

seized upon it, and it is covered with ' ' greenbacks, " stolen from the treasury. 

Geo. Washington once had the modesty to say that he was not the country. Abra- 
ham Lincoln has had the impudence to assume that he can control your acts 
and expressions. If five years ago a lawyer had stated in a court of justice that 
to speak was -wrong, there would be issued directly a warrant for his arrest on a 
charge of insanity. As for Lincoln personally, he is incompetent for his position. 
[A voice, "That's so."] I dare make the assertion that if j'ou made the in- 
quiry to the President of the United States, what dignity a President should 
possess, he would reply that the position was beneath the dignity of a child.— 
Give your flag a straight-forward and an honest support ; rebuke this Adminis- 
f ration by the voice of siach assemblages as these, and let j'our cry be ' ' peace, 
yjeaceT" and an honest government, instead of "war, war," and robbei-y. We 
I live tried the game of war and what has been the result ? Richmond, according 
t'n rumor, has been taken at least five times. [Laughter.] Now the report from 
Vlck'sburg is that the more we press upon the foe, the more we find the foe in- 
cjrease — foemen who are worthy of their steel. There you will find men — strong 
Union men, who indorse that flag — men who fought for it. I believe that each 
one of you are unwilling to leave your homes to fight against your own kindred. 
Besides, you can never convince a thinking man that crushing out and subjuga- 
tion will make friends, Unfortunately, the Administration never had brains 
enough to go crazy. The day of freedom is at hand — the voice of Pennsylvania 

has gone forth, and it is echoed in this assemblage to night, crying "Peace." 

(Applause.) 

The next speaker introduced was the Hon. Fernando Wood, the announcement 

of whose name was the signal for long and tremendous applause. He spoke as 

foUows, after the cheering had partially subsided ; 

SPEECH OF FERNANDO WOOD. 

We hav • fal'en \ipon evil times. We have lived too long, if we have outlived 



16 

our coTintry. Indications admonish us that the American Union has been 
severed, and it may be forever. Disguise it as we may, candor compels the ad- 
mission' that our once proud Republic has fallen from its exalted hight. It is 
now prostrate ! Decried, insulted, aiid without a second rate position abroad- 
rent asunder by fearful ci\'il war at home— ruled by despotic power on princi- 
ples of partizan hate — and upon theories of government utterly antagonistic to 
those upon which our institutions were founded — we stand before the world an 
object of wonder, contempt and ridicule. These facts are not referred to in a 
spirit of reproach. I but anticipate the record of history, and shall leave to oth- 
ers to fix- the responsibility. I reproach none. It is not difScult to charge en-or 
or wi-oug doing after the accomplishment of results. All of us can see causes for 
misfortunes that have occurred better than we can provide a preventive. '= It is 
human to err, it is divine to forgive f and, v.'hile easy to commit error ourselves, 
it is difficult to overlook it in others. ■With these sentiments, I am disposed to 
alleviate the national woes rather than indulge criticism upon the causes. I 
would do something to extricate the country from its terrible calamities. The 
effort, however feeble, is ennobling. Even the attempt, if made in good faith, in 
worthy the highest intellect and the most elevated patriotism. I regret that, of 
the many of this character of which America has boasted, who have honored us in 
(he several departments of human progress, none have arisen at this time for this 
blessed mission. Heretofore, in every age, great national exigencies have pro- 
duced the man for the occasion. As the Almighty "tempers the wind to the 
Khorn lamb," so has he, heretofore provided the instrument by Avhich great na- 
tional results have been aocomplished for the advantage of humanity. As yet, 
He has not vouchsafed this favor to us. No man equal to this crisis has appeared 
— neither in the field, nor in the cabinet ; nor in the manj'- elevated spheres of 
private life has the man presented himself with the brain, the heart and the 
courage to seize and work out the great political problem now to be solved in our 
case, and to utter efficiently the traths of reason with the force and ]power equal 
to the i^ending crisis. Those who have the intellectual ability have lacked the 
nerve, and those with the nerve have lacked the ability. L'ut there is another 
wonder : that in this civilized population of over thirty million — North and 
South — abounding with benevolence, purity, cultivation and enlightened Christi- 
iinity, none are foiind to raise the Banner of Peace. Among the thousand spires 
which rear tliek lofty turrets to a benignant God, not one covers a pulpit devoted 
to the true principles of Christ, and proclaims, ' ' On earth Peace ; good will 
toward men." As if the opposite constituted the whole duty of man, Avar, blood- 
shed and rapine are encouraged, and "all uncharitableness " taught, as if to 
mock the spirit of the "meek and lowly Jesus." Those whose professions 
should instil the kindlier methods of settling human controversy have been 
toremost in the race for human sacrifice, forgetting that war and hate are the 
children of Satan, and that peace and love are the emanation of the Divine 
Spirit. I have looked upon this with wonder, and have said: "Oh! Israel, if 
this be your God," I am not surprised that the country and the church are alike 
upon the road to ruin, and that (xod has withdrawn his countenance from each. 
Now, wii'liout believing that my feeble voice and influence can accomplish much 
toward averting this revailsion of our political and social system, I shoiald be re- 
creant to every impulse of my heart and to every c''ierished principle of my life, 
if I did not throw ;myself into tlie breach to do' whatever in me lies to impede, if 
not stay, this avalanche of gener.d destruction. Without the ability to do much, 
I have not the tenierily to attempt nmch, biit whatever I can shall Ibe done to 
brijig the American people to a realization of their present perilGi;s condition. 
With this spirit and witli this determination I throw myself into this cause, and 
in the language of Senator Benton, wlienhe presented a proyiositiontothe United 
States Senate, with little hope of its immediate success, amidst the general indig- 
nation of his compeers, " Solitary and alone 1 put this ball in mo lion." That 
proposition was to expmige the resolutions from the records of the Senate which 
placed a mark of condemnation upon the iilustvious Andrew Jackson. Though 
contemned and decried then, it finally succeeded amid the approving pla idits of 
the whole American people. So with this ! Though now to be denounced by the 
open enemies t^f the Deiaocratic Party from without, and to be yet- more vituently 
opposed l)y so-called Democrats from within, yet, nevertheless, it must finally 
triumi>h, not only amid the approving plaudits of the American people, and in- 
d<fd, of the friiiids <.f human liberty, progress and self-government throughout 
the \v«_irld, but of the very angels of heaven themselves. Benton's etiort was to 
restore the fair fame of u gallant hero ; mine will be to restore the amity, hai'- 



17 

mony and salvation of tho best institutions ever devised for the government of 
man. I declare for peace, and as preparatory for peace, am in favor of a cessa- 
tion of hostilities, that jDropositions nixy be made or accepted which shaU con- 
duce to, or result in, an amicable adjustment of causes which led to this war. I 
am not for a peace based upon the iinal separation of the States — but for peace 
as the only means which will lead to restoration, and am opposed to, and until 
the popular voice of the country shall declare for it, shall continue to oppose any 
movement which has for its aim the breaking up of the glorious old Union under 
which we have lived and prospered for over three quiu'ters of a century. Upon 
this occasion I have not the time to go into an extensive amilysis of the groimds 
upon which I can sustain my demand for a cessation of hostilities. The address 
and resolutions which have been submitted and approved, cover them fully. I 
will, however, submit ten propositions, each capable of elucidation, which, upon 
other occasions, I will attempt to maintain. These are : 

1. The war shoiild cease, because it should never have been commenced, inas- 
much as there is no coercive military power in the Federal Government as 
against the States, which are sovereign, and in possession of all jjower not dele- 
gated. If power of coercion exists at all, it is legal and not military. 

2. Because there was no necessity for it. An amicable adjustment of the ques- 
tions in dispute could have been, and can be still procured on terms of fairness 
and equality. 

3. Because, however, legal and just at the commencement ; it has been divert- 
ed from its ostensible original 2">iirpose, and made a war for the abolition of 
Slavery and the extinguishment of the Southern States, as such which, of course, 
as a consequence, subverts the Government itself. 

4. Because it is made a pretext for the most outrageous and damnable crimes 
against the liberty of the citizen, the rights of property, and even against the 
form of Government under which we have lived. 

5. Because it is creating a stupendous public money debt, which must bear 
down labor — destroy caj^ital, and finally cause national bankruptcy and dis- 
honor. 

6. Because, in the military, it is establishing a new and dangerous power which 
already overrides the Courts and the Constitution, and whi(ih history teaches 
when once firmly established becomes permanent, despotic and tyrannical. 
When military law subverts the civil law liberty departs forever. 

7. Because there is neither in the civil nor in the military departments of Gov- 
ernment, any man or men of sulficient mental power to successfully prosecute 
the war against the vastly superior statesmen and generals of the South. 

8. Because the commercial wealth of the country, derived from foreign trade. 
and largely enhanced by Southern products," must gradually disappear if this war 

, continues. As yet, artificial stimulants have supplied the defection of sound 
mercantile resources ; but time must dissipate them, and then will follow a reac- 
( tion, terrible — overwhelming and annihilating. 

^ 9. Because the popular enthusiasm necessary to conduct the war and supply 
. the failing armies has subsided. Force, by a draft, cannot supply this mdispen- 
{. sable requisite. Republicans who have grown up with the ideas of personal free- 
j- dom, and right to political opinions and action, cannot be so suddenly changed 
■y as to become willing instruments of powei", and be used effectually against their 
^ own convictions of policy and right. 

- ^ 10. And, finally, because experience should admonish us that the over-ruling 
Q power of God is against us. We cannot succeed in what we have undertaken. 
' Hence every dollar expended is thrown away — every life lost is little less than 
murder — every acre of land laid waste is so much toward national impoverish- 
* ment — and every day's continuance of the war places an additional barrier be- 
tween us and reunion, alid drives another nail in the cofiin of the Republic. 

My friends, need I say more ? Need I attempt the elucidation of those premi- 
ses ? The mere statement of these positions, without argument or illustration or 
reference, of itself proves the case. " Truth is mighty and will prevail" — and 
hence let these facts, thus briefly, though feebly ex^jressed, go forth to the world 
as the avauut courier of the returning reason of the American people. The war 
must cease sooner or later ! This is an accepted fact, and why continiie the con- 
flict in the face of this overwhelming array of reasons for its immediate discon- 
tinuance. It is madness — because to do so is suicidal and criminal. All who 
are parties to its continuance iiarticipate in the responsibilities. They are 
PAUTicEPs CKiMiNis, and before the expiration of another Presidential term, vdU 
hide their heads in shame, penitence and contrition. May the Almighty change 

3 



18 

their hearts and their morals and return their reason. May He deem the sacri- 
fice of human life— the fell destruction of property — and the general devastation 
whiich has laid waste the fairest portion of our national inheritance a sufficient 
atonement for the national sins we have committed, and may peace, xauity, pros- 
perity and fraternity be once more restored to \\h, that we may transmit the in- 
Btitutions of our fathers unimpaired to our posterity. Fellow-citizens, be calm, 
prudent and thoughtful ! Liberty is cowering behind passion, and power is dally- 
ing vrith her there. Prejudice is dethroning reason and raising an oraciilar tem- 
ple upon her ruins. Stui^idity mocks at calamity and reproaches patriotism. 
Pandora's Box is opened. Men of New York, be firm. Define your position, and 
maintain it. Let no idle gasconade come from you to insult the hopes of your 
bleeding country. Liberty is the high mark, the first object — maintain that, and 
then restore the Union. A drowned man may be recuscitated ; his friends will 
apply restoratives, and they will do it promptly, calmly, earnestly, and they will 
do it so long as there shall be the least indications of existing vitality, hoM-ever 
feeble and doubtful. So with our country. If it is worth anything, it is worthy 
every sacrifice we can make for its restoration, which must come speedy, or life is 
extinct. / 



Speech of J. R. WOOD, of Virginia. 

Amid cries of "Brooks," " Brooks," the Chairman introduced J. R. Wood, of 
Virginia, saying that he was also of the Wood family, and a good piece of timber. 
[Cheers.] Mr. Wood spoke with great effect, he refered to his having' addressed 
a meeting before in the same hall, in company with Daniel S. Dickinson. He 
thought he was in good company, but certainly was not, so far as that renegade 
was concerned. [Groans for Dickinson.] It has been said that the Southern 
people were carried away by their leaders. Who was it that inflamed the pas- 
sions of the people,- and made them follow the leaders, if not the Republican 
party? [Cheers.] If that party was honest in their reasons for voting against 
the compromise (that the South would not accept it), why, in order to test the 
matter, did they not adopt and submit it. [Cheers.] She had a right to ask this, 
[renewed cheers], but even this the Republican party refused to give. [Groans.] 
They had an opportunity to honorably settle our difficulties and refused to do it. 
I believe they have a legal, moral and constitutional right to secede. I do not 
mean that the Constitution confers such a right, but it does not forbid it, and at 
no time or in no place has any State surrendered the right to control its own des- 
tiny. [Applause.] I do not make this allusion in order to become a political 
martyr, nor with any idea of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, but I speak 
honestly and frankly what I honestly beUeve. [Cheers. ] ,The Republican party 
did everything to disianite us, and refused to do anj'thing to save ; and since, the 
war has' done everything to prevent the restoration of the Union. Even the 
President has receded from his early declaration of an intention to restore the 
Union. I say, fellow-citizens, and am again responsible for what I say, that as 
the war is not waged for the restoration of the Union, but for the oi^i^ression of 
the North, and'the subjugation of the South, the sooner it is stopped the better. 
[Enthusiastic applause.] The South can never be subjugated. [Renewed 
cheers. ] If it was, the Union would not be restored. Blood enough has been 
shed, orphans enough have been made. [Applause. ] Death is in every house- 
hold, and we are become a nation of mourners. A nation of mourners ! Ay, 
worse than that— a nation of paricides ! How much longer is it to last ? I say 
before another gun is fired, before another hearthstone is desolated, let it be 
Htopped. [Gi-eat enthusiasm.] K the South are not to come back as brethren, 
in the name of God, let them go. (Great and protracted cheering. ) What then ? 
A dismembered country ? God forbid it ! When our armies have retired from 
their soil then, but not till then, will be begun the glorious -work of reconstruc- 
tion. (Applause.) Then conciliation will become more potent than the sword 
and the musket. Then peace and unity will return to our distracted country. 
AVe will no longer hear the wails of the wounded and the shrieks of the dying. 
But we will hear shouts of rejoicing from hill and valley, while the people, East, 
North, West and South, will join in the great chorus of a national jubilee. 

Mr. Wood retired amid the most tumultous applause. 



19 



Speech of JUDGE FLANDERS. 

Judge Flanders wm next introduced, being receired with cheert. 
Fellow-Citizens : 

For more than two years past we have been hearing, from the adTocates of this 
war, the various pretexts upon which the war is prosecuted. One of the most 
prominent and most frequentlj^ uttered of these pretexts is, that the war is prose- 
cuted for the preservation of our national life. (A voice. "It's a lie.") Yes, it 
is a lie, and if you will bear with me patiently, I will demonstrate how utterly 
false it is. But it has been constantly on the lips of Republicans, and often 
echoed by War Democrats, when upon the stump, and seeking office, that this is 
the object for which the war is prosecuted. Now, there is not only not a particle 
of truth in this assertion, but, on the contrary, the war is prosecuted for the de- 
struction of our national life. (Cheers.) 

What constitutes our national life V Does it consist in our magnificent chain 
of lakes, our broad rivers, our fertile plains, our beautiful mountain slopes, 
our productive vallies, our extensive forests, our rich and exhaustless mines, our 
varied and multiplied manufactures, our vast commerce, oiir stupendous system 
of railroads, our immense territorial extent, or yet in the number of States com- 
posing our confederacy, or our aggregate population? No— none, nor all of these 
combined, constitute our true national life. They contribute to our prosperity 
and greatness, and make up a part of what has hitherto been the pride of every 
American heart. But they constitute no part of our national life. That consists, 
not in material things, but in our constitutional libertjj — (cheers) — in our own 
peculiar American liberty — established and secured by 'that^beautiful and com- 
plex an-angement by which numerous sovereign States- have; confederated to- 
gether for certain objects of external relation, and certain common and mutual 
interests, creating, for superintending and directing these, a common agent, in 
the form of a federal government, delegating to that government certain ex- 
pressly defined powers, and retaining, each to itself, the great" residuarj' mass of 
powers pertaining to government, and all rights not delegated or prohibited in 
the federal constitution. So clearly defined and so carefully guarded are the 
powers thus conferred, that while the federal government keeps within its con- 
stitutional limits, it can neither endanger the rights of the States nor oppress the 
people. (Cheers.) It is within the States, and under the guardianship of the 
State governments, that we possess and enjoy our great and valuable home right* 
— the rights which distinguish a free country, and are the pride and boast of free 
men — the right of personal liberty, the right of free speech and of a free press, 
the right to be exempt from unreasonable searches and seizures, the right, when 
charged with crime, to be confronted with our accusers, and to have a speedy and 
impartial trial, by a jury of the vicinage, and the right of the writ of habeas cor- 
pus when illegally deprived of our liberty. (Applause.) These constitute our 
national life, and it might as well be said that the human body has life after the 
spirit has departed, as that we hare national life after these great rights have been 
wrested from us. (Cheers. ) 

What has been the effect of the war upon these rights? It has prostrated 
them, and a military despotism has supplanted the free institutions established 
by our fathers. 

All the great constitutional rights of the States and of the people which have 
hitherto been held sacred, and which we had so long and so securely enjoyed 
that we did not deem it possible that any political change could take place in our 
country by which they would be lost or even seriously endangered, have been 
ruthlessly stricken down by the hands of arbitrary power, and all the wom- 
out,maxims by which tyranny in ages past has been justified in the old world, 
are revived here in free America, and as boldly and confidently uttered as though 
the American revolution had not entered into history, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence had never been proclaimed, and a free, constitutional government, 
with its bill of rights and its political traditionAUustrating and guaranteeing the 
great principles of popular freedom, were but the "baseless fabric of a vision." 

Such is the eff'ect of this war. Instead of being prosecuted for the preservation 
of oui" national life, it has been prosecuted for its destruction, and it has worked 
out its end and result. How could it be otherwise ? A war of this mere agent, 



20 

the federal government, the creature of the States, upon its creators — a resort to 
anns for the subjugation of a portion of these States by the common agent of all 
the States — involves in its very nature and consequences the loss of liberty and 
the establishment of despotism. (Applause.) Such a war, so inconsistent with 
the structure and principles of our political system, so conflicting with all our 
American ideas and traditions, could not be prosecuted, in the very nature of 
things, mthout the destruction of our liberty. Its very commencement would of 
necessity be the inauguration of a military despotism ; for so monstrous a pro- 
ceeding is not pi'ovided for by the constitution, was not contemplated by its 
framers, but expressly disclaimed and deprecated, and the constitution could 
not possibly survive such a conflict. The actual and melancholy result is, that 
this sacred instrument — the creation of the wisest and noblest body of men 
whom the world ever saw — has had no practical existence since the fifteenth day 
of April, 18G1, and, as in the natural world, the destruction of the great solar orlj 
of our system would pvit an end to all forms of physical life, so the extinguish- 
ment of our great constitutional sun has deprived us of our true national life. 

All this was foreseen and predicted, and the voice of warning was raised, but 
in the wild excitement amid which the war was precipitated upon us, the people 
would not listen, and, without kno\^'ing it, rushed upon their own destruction. 
There ought to have been too much intelligence in our country for our people to 
have been so fatally deceived and misled. The case was so clear, all the dread 
consequences were so manifest, that I cannot conceive how any man could have 
been duped into the belief that a war of sections, a war between the parties to 
the constitution, the creators of the federal government, could be prosecuted 
with safety to the constitution, or that it could be instrumental in restoring the 
Union — a Union founded in. consent, and which can exis^ only by consent. 

The Democratic party, in advance, distinctly committed itself against war to 
preserve or restore the Union. At the Democratic State Convention held at 
Albany on the 31st day of January, 1861, it was resolved — 

"That in the opinion of this Convention, the worst and the most ineffective argu- 
ment that can be addressed by the confederacy or its adheriner members to the seced- 
ing States is civil war. Civil war will not eestore the Union, but will defeat 

FOSEVEE, ITS BECONSTKUCTION." 

Thus did the Democratic party of the State not only pronounce against military 
coercion, but the resolution in efi"ect admits the severance of the Union, by speak- 
ing of its restoration or reconstruction. If there had not been a dissolution, 
there could be no restoration or reconstruction. This language necessarily im- 
plies dissolution. Tammany Hall, too, presented and read in that Convention 
her platform of principles, in which she declared — 

"Whether the right of any State to secede from the National Union be or be not re- 
served under the organic act of the Constitution, it is a plain palpable fact that the 
people of certain of the States have assumed the existence of that right, and have 
acted upon it in the most formal and positive manner. * * * * * * 
That if the Eepublican party shall decide not to take such action as can alone induce 
a peaceful settlement of the present difficulties, we demand and insist that the nation 
shall not be plunged into the horrors of civil war, hut that measures shall he taken to 
hring about an amicable separation of the two sections, trusting to the future to re- 
concile feelings not embittered by bloodshed, and to remove obstacles to remiion not ren- 
(lered insurmountable bijfi-atricidal war. * * * That we will, by all proper 
and legitimate means, oppose, discountenance and prevent any attemjtt on the part 
oflli.e BepubUcans in power to make any armed aggression under the plea of 'enforcing 
the laws^ or '■preserving the Union\ upon Southern States. ****** 
That the Constitution clothes the Governbient with no power to coerce sovereign 
States in their political capacity. The coercive power of this government is a coer- 
cion of lav/H, not of arms, and can only be made effectual over the States by the au- 
thorized civil agents of the government tor the execution of these laws. Where such 
agents no longer exist, any attempt at a forcible execution of the laws through any 
otlier chaiuiel is nothing more nor less than war ; and the Constitution vests no 

POWER in ConGKESS TO DECLARE WAR AGAINST ANY PORTION OF THIS CONFEDERACY." 

Even Mr. Seward — poor authority, I admit — has gone farther than this, and 
not only denied the right and the i^licy of military coercion, but conceded the 
fact, and, impliedly, the right, of secession. And though he is the falsest of false 
prophets and the unsoundest of statesmen, he seems for once to have had a 
glimpse of the true character and powers of our government, and it may not be 
ijiappropriate or unprofitable to read what he has said upon that subject. In a 



21. 

letter to Mr. Adams, U. S. Minister to London, dated April 10, lS(il, the uses his 
remarkable language : 

" For these reaaons, he (the Prenident) would not be aisposed to reject a cardinal 
dogma of theirs, namely, that the federal government could not reduce the seceding 
States to obedience by conquest, even although he were disposed to question tliat 
proposition. Bui, in fact, the Prcuklent loiliiagLij accepts it as true. Otdij an impn'ial 
tir despotic government could suhjayale Ihorougldy disajf'ected and insarreclionanj lueni- 
liers of the State. This federal republican system of ours is of all forms of government 
the very one which is most unlittcd for such a labor. Happily, however, this is only 
an imaginary defect. Ihe system has within itself adequate, peaceful, conservative 
and recuperative forces. Firmness on the part of the government in maintaining and 
preserving the pubUc institutions and property, and in executing the laws where au- 
thority can be exercised, without waging war, combined with such measures of justice, 
moderation and forbearance as w^ill disarm reasoning opposition, will Ije sufficient to 
secure the public safety until returning reflection, concurring with the fearful experi- 
ence of social evils, the inevitable fruits of faction, shall bring the recusant members 
cheerfully back into the family, which, after all, must prove their best and happiest, 
as it undeniably is their most natural home. The constitution of the United' States 
provides for that return by authorizing Congress, on application to be made by a cer- 
tain majority of the States, to assemble a national convention, in which the organic 
law can, if it be needful, be revised so as to remove all real obstacles to a reunion, so 
suitable to the habits of the people, and so eminently conducive to the common safety 
and welfare. Keeping tliat remedy steadily in view, the President, on the one hand, 
will not suffer the federal authority to fall into abeyance, nor will he, on the other, ag- 
(jravate eristinij evils h;/ attempts at coercion which must assume the jorm of direct war 
against any of the recoiuUonary States." 

Here is a concession of all the grounds for which peace men contend, and a 
concession of more than is necessary to sustain our position. T want no better 
or stronger arguments in favor of peace than those thus furnished by Mr. Lin- 
coln's Secretary of State, and I especially commend them to the thoughtful ex- 
amination of Mr. Seward's friends and admirers. And how unfortunate for the 
country it is that these sentiments, thus officially and solemnly declared, by the 
authority of the President himself, had not guided the counsels of the adminis- 
tration. 

Had this been the case, we should have had no bloodshed, no enormous debt 
and onerous taxation, the land would not be filled with mourning, and the ears 
pained by the wails of widows and orphans, all caused by a crviel and needless 
war, and our libertj^ our true national life, would be secure under the protection 
of our glorious federal constitution. Not only so, but at this very hour the Union 
would have been fully restored, or in the process of certain reconstruction. Sitch 
would have been the blessed fruits of peace. Alas, look abroad through oui- un- 
happy cotmtry, and behold the sad and fearful results of war. 

Would you believe, fellow citizens, that at the very time this dispatch was 
written by JVJ!r. Seward, and when he was coquetting with the Southern Commis- 
sioners, giving them assurances, through Judge Campbell, of the Supreme Coi.ut 
of the United States, that Fort Sumter was to be evacuated, the administration 
was secretly lifting out an expedition to relieve that Fort, with a distipct knowl- 
edge that it would not be permitted to enter Charleston harbor, and for the ex- 
press design of drawing the fire of Beauregard's batteries, so as to be' able to 
raise the cry that the South fired the first gun. Fired the first gun ! As much 
might you say that the man upon ^^hom another is advancing with uj^raised arm, 
intending to stiike, inflicts the tii'st blow because he is too quick for his assailant, 
and springs forward and knocks him down. (A voice, " That's so.") It is time 
that this dirty trick, by which the country was precipitated into this conflict, and 
the present deplorable condition of things brought upon us, were exposed. (The 
audience, "So it is.") That expedition was never intended or expected to re- 
lieve Fort Sumter. They knew that by sending those troops and provisions with 
the apparent design of relieving the Fort, they would draw the lu-e of the confed- 
erates — they intended to draw their fire — their vessels never crossed the bar, but 
remained outside during the bombardment, and when the Fort surrendered, and 
the object of the expedition had been accomplished, sailed North — and the ad- 
ministration took advantage of this base stratagem to cany out its preconcerted 
plan of civil war in the country and a revolution in the government. (Cheers. ) 
That is the honest truth, disguise it as you will, and it is time the truth were 
spoken. For two years there has been nothing but a series of lies and the gross- 
est deception, and men have been compelled fi-om fear and interest to hold their 
breath and suppress their convictions, I never did it — I never will. I have 



.22 

been four months an inmate of Seward's bastiles, Fort Lafayette and Fort War- 
ren, for expressing my opinions. (Applause. ) 

(Gen. Niven on the stand — "Three cheers for Judge Flanders, who has thus 
suffered imprisonment for opinion's sake, " which were given. ) 

I received that discipline at the hands of this administration for honestly ex- 
pressing my poUtical sentiments as a free citizen, and I am now no better sub- 
ject of Abraham the First, notwithstanding this discipline, than I was when I 
■was sent to Fort Lafayette. 

A voice — "Why not arrest Seward? He is at the Astor House." (Great 
eheers. ) 

Another voice — " Let us go to the Astor House." (Cheers. ) 

To return to the affair at Charleston, which was made the pretext and justifica- 
tion for all the horrors which have since been inflicted upon the countr3^ Cer- 
tain of the States had seceded, and believed that they had a right to secede, and 
I believe they had that right. (Applause.) They had established a separate 
government of their own, aad announced their determination to maintain their 
independence. The expedition to relieve Fort Sumter was hostile in its charac- 
ter, and menaced that independence which they claimed to be then- right ; and 
in anticipating the blow which they were made to believe was about to be aimed 
at them, they clearly acted in self-defense. It makes no difference that the fed- 
eral expedition to Charleston was not got up in good faith, with any thought of 
relieving the Fort. This in fact adds to the infamy of the administration, while 
it detracts nothing from the justification of the South. It was intended to pro- 
voke a collision — it did provoke a collision — and the conflict of arms thus delib- 
erately brought on in Charleston harbor, was designed, and was skillfully made 
use of, to bring on ci^dl war, under cover, and by means of which the republican 
leaders could enrich themselves upon public plunder, perpetuate their power,^ 
and convert our government into a military despotism. (Cheers. ) 

The people ought to have understood this and guarded against it. They were 
forewarned in time of the consequences. Mr. Douglas, on the 15th of March, 
1861, in his place in the Senate, in the greatest speech of his life, a speech re- 
plete with the soundest political maxims and the most far seeing political sagacity, 
declared — 

" History does not record the example of any human government strong enough to 
crush ten millions of people into submi«sion, who believed their rights and libertiea 
to be imperilled, without jirsl converting the government itself into a despotism, and de- 
stroying the last vestige oj freedom." 

Mr. Seward, too, in the extract which I have cited, said — 

" Only an imperial or despotic government can subjugate thoroughly disaffected and 
insurrectionary members of the state." 

He conceded that our government, as organized under, and limited by, the 
constitution, was not adapted to such a work. Hence, in committing the gov- 
ernment to it, he and his coadjutors must have intended to convert our institu- 
tions into an imperial or despotic system, and this they have practically done. 

But the intention of the republican leaders is not left to inference. We have 
their own express declarations, made more than two years ago, before a single 
battle had been fought, save the reduction of Fort Sumter — showing the design 
with which they came into power. Tiiat design was to change the form of our 
government, and establish a centralized despotism, in place of the free federative 
system of our fathers, under which we have enjoyed a measure of security, liberty 
and prosperity, hitherto unknown in the history of mankind. I cite the ominous 
and startling declarations of a few of these leaders. 

Banks, standing on Arlington Heights, and waving his hand towards Washing- 
ton, said : — 

" lids is the end of this government, as it now exists. There will be a reconstruc- 
tion on different principUs." 

(A voice — He's a New England man. ) 

Cameron, while acting as Lincoln's Secretary of War, proclaimed :— 

"The deluded beings in the South, whose insolence we have borne for a quar< 



23 

ter of a century, mu.it be subdued, and the President will not let the war end until 
all the causes which produced it are removed, and when the war terminates, we 
shall hear no more of Virginians as such, or of North Carolinians, or of South 
Carolinians, but we shall all be Americans, one and indivisible. " 

James Watson Webb, Lincoln's minister to Brazil, gave out : 

" The war may soon pass away — we may have a quick and vital battle-field, 
and the North prove its prowess, as certainly it will ; but the truth of national 
unity and power that these events have given, endures — combined — condensed — 
concentrated in army and na\^-. 

" We shall ask the question — Why all these State lines? AVhy all this needless, 
cumbersome, intricate entanglement of different powers to make law and to de- 
cree judgment? We can afford now to efface the old Colonial Geography. It is 
the admitted powers of States within the nation that has been the source of all 
our troubles. Nor will the removal of State power, and the creation of a nation- 
ality, be a task so formidable." 

The N. Y. Tribune, whose editor made Lincoln President, boldly declared : 

"Congress may do what they will, but the mightier power — [evidently mean- 
ing the soldiery] — which is behind Congress and all other constituted authority, 
will submit to nothing which looks like a restoration of peace without the guar- 
antees of submission for the future and indemnity for the past. The same men 
who have touched b.allots for a quarter of a century can handle a cartridge with 
eqiial dexterity of linger. They will as easily and as readily organize a militarj' 
despotism, if the exigency of the hour demand it, as they can reconstruct on the 
foiuidations of tranquil arbitration. We have opened our eyes to the necessity of 
a stronger central power, when States are in insurrection and cities are in banded 
rebellion. We suspend habeas corpus in public danger, and we may not only 
restore but keep the subordination of popular elements by the sharp discipline of 
the sword." 

And the New York Times, whose editor is supposed to be in very close political 
fellowship with Mr. Seward, and to share his counsels, avowed : 

' ' Congress will act as if invested with the power of a National Convention ; for 
in merely sanctioning what the Executive has already done, in the levying of 
troops for three years, in the use of unappropriated moneys for extraordinary ex- 
penses, and in its appointments, it mil have to transcend the authority of the 
Constitution. And thare can be no hesitation, not only in approving these acts, 
but, if necessary, resorting to other measures equally unwarranted by the precisa 
letter of that instrument." 

[The reading of these extracts elicited groans, deep, and long drawn out, for 
the authors of sentiments so revolutionary and atrocious. ] 

In this spirit and to this end the war has been conducted. The leaders of the 
republican party have gone on, step by step, disregarding the provisions, and 
breaking down all the limitations of the Constitution. They have introduced 
into this country the systems of St. Petersburg!! and Vienna. Many of the 
States adhering to the Union are to-day in the condition of Poland, Hungary and 
Venice. Why, so low have we fallen, that Seward has bedn able to make the in- 
famous boast to Lord Lyons, the British Minister — 

" My Lord, I cS.n touch a bell on my right hand, and order the arrest of a citizen of 
Ohio ; I can touch the bell again, and order the imprisonment of a citizen of New 
York ; and no power on earth except that of the Preaident caa release them. Can the 
Queen of England do as much ?" 

Can it be possible, fellow citizens, that this language has been uttered in the 
land of Washington, and by the succe.ssor of Jeffekson, the first Secretary of the 
ITnited States ? And what is worst and most mortifying of aU, Seward has made 
his boast true. (Groans for Seward. ) No English minister for the last two hun- 
dred years would have dared to make this insolent boast in reference to the Eng- 
lish government and the people of England, and tha sovereign who should hava 



24 

had the temerity to do as Lincoln has done would have been speedily made a de- 
throned fugitive or a headless corpse. (Cheers. ) • 

How^ great is the contrast between the condition to which we have been re- 
duced by two years of abolition rule and that of England even a hundred years 
ago, when Lord Chatham proudly exclaimed — 

" The poorest man, in his cottage, may bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. 
It may be frail ; its roof may shake ; the wind may blow through it ; the storm may 
enter ; but the King of England cannot enter it. All his power dares not cross the 
threshold of that I'uined tenement." 

We have been in the habit of proudly contrasting our political freedom, and 
our personal security under the constitution and laws, not only with the unhappy 
lot of the subjects of absolute governments on the continent of Europe, but with 
the condition of the people of England. We can do so no longer. We have 
come to humiliation and shame, and unless the downward tendency of events be 
speedily arrested there will be scarcely any people under the sun whose lot we 
may not envy. 

All this has been brought upon us by this war. The war was originated with 
this design. There may have been some of the republican leaders who were 
weak and ignorant enough to suppose that the South could be conqiiered. But 
that delusion has long. since been dissipated "by the sharp discipline of the 
sword," and the war is now kept up to perpetuate power in republican hands and 
revohitionize the government, as foreshadowed by the republican leaders wdthin 
less than two months after its commencement. Were the subjugation of the 
South possible, no doubt the party in power would above all things desire its ac- 
complishment. Such a result woiild make easy and sure the achievement of their 
grand scheme of revolution and despotism. If conquered, the southern states 
would have to be held as subject provinces by the strong arm of military power. 
This would call for immense standing armies, and ci-eate the excuse, and in fact, 
the necessity, for a strong military government at Washington, which would be 
able to control the elections, if indeed elections were permitted, and maintain 
and perpetuate its' power at the point of the bayonet. North as well as South. He 
is blind, therefore, who does not see that the subjugation of the South would be 
the certain death of constitutional government on this continent. But there is 
no danger of such an event. The party in power knows it. It is now merely 
making a show of war upon the South as an occasion for keeping under its con- 
trol and in its service half a million of bayonets to hold the northern people in 
subjection and carry the next Presidential election. The same plea of militarj'' 
necessity by which it justifies all its arbitrary measures, it will claim requires 
that it should retain power. And its past conduct proves that it \nl\ have no 
scriiples as to the means to be used to accomplish its object. 

Whatever the military power in its hands can effect will surely be done. Let 
the )'epiiblican party retain its hold upon the govei;nment for one more Presiden- 
tial term, and our liberties are lost. By means of a standing army, forced into 
the field, and kept up to the necessary strength under a tyrannical conscription 
act, and Chase's banking scheme, the government will prove too strong for the 
people. This banking scheme is the most dangerous measure yet adopted by the 
administration, for the strengthening and perpetuation of its power. Let it once 
be put in lull operation, and it identifies the moneyed classes of the pountry with 
the government, and they will support it, whatever tyrannical measures it may 
resort to that do not endanger the security of their investments. What makes 
the English government the strongest, the most difficult to revolutionize, of any 
government m the world ? Its enormous debt, held by its own people, and making 
every man who holds a share in the funds interested in upholding the govern- 
ment, and securing the support of the Bank of England, bj' being a constant and 
heavy borrower from the Bank. Chase's scheme goes still farther! By means of 
this war, not only has an immense debt been created, all held by domestic credi- 
tors, V)ut this debt is to be made the basis of banking throughout the country, 
and our whole banking system is to be made to rest upon it, thus not onlj' making 
evei-y man who holds federal stocks a supporter of the govei-nment, but rendering 
our entire system of banking and currency dependent upon the stability and 
credit of the government. A more stuiJendous scheme of despotism was never 
devised, and if i^ermitted to be consummated thcre^-will be an end of American 
libeity and of our true national life forever. 

Yoii now see what this war is, and to what it is to lead. Aside from all other 
•onaiderations and arguments against the war, it is plain that it must be speedily 



25 

aiTested, or our liberties are lost. Upon one thing or the other we must make 
up our minds — stop the war, or abandon all hope of maintaining a free, constitu- 
tional government in this land. Don't wait to speculate what may be the other 
consequences of arresting the M'ar, so long as we know it is the only way to save 
our liberties. ^Vhether or not the Union will be restored, or a new Union can 
be formed, or a separation temporary, or a separation tiual, must be accepted as 
our destiny, are all questions of minor importance. They do not involve our lib- 
erties — our national life. These are not dependent upon the number of States 
composing our confederacy. We started with thirteen States, and our national 
life was then as full and perfect as when but three years sincc^ we had a Union of 
thirty-four States ; and now, if we fall back to twenty, we still have our national 
life no less full and perfect. Recognizing the secession of the southern States as 
a fact and a finality will not tnke from us our government — our Constitution — our 
liberties. We can still go on in a career of prosperity and happiness, because 
we shall i^reserve our freedom — our national life. 

It is useless to deny it, o.nd vain to attempt to disguise it — the man who suii- 
ports this war, makes himself resi^ousible for all the consequences of the war- 
arbitrary arrests, illegal imprisonments, Vallandigham's banishment, military 
despotism and all. I care not whether he is a republican or claims to be a demo- 
crat, he contributes, by supjjorting the war, to the overthrow of our present form 
of government and the destruction of our liberties. And if he be a democratic 
leader, he is the most criminal of all. If lit, in point of intelligence and sagacity, 
to be a leader, he knows full well the consequences of what he is doing, and is 
therefore a false-hearted traitor to the democratic cause. If so stupid and ignor- 
ant that he does not know the consequences of what he is doing, he de- 
serves the severest censure for assuming a position for which he is not qualified. 
All such leaders, of whichever class, should be at once deposed. They have 
already brought us into the greatest peril, and nothing but the most prompt and 
decided action of the democratic masses, by casting off these false guides, and 
reorganizing the party upon sound principles, and under honest, capable and 
fearless leadership, can save our institutions fi-om final overthrow. 

Ah, but these men protest against the consequences of the war, they say. Do 
they, indeed '? Oh, yes, they give to Mr. Lincoln unlimited mihtary power, know- 
ing what une he will make of it, and then turn around and whine and complain 
because he has done what they knew he would do when they gave it to him. 
And still, notwithstanding their dissatisfaction and complaints, they keep on giv- 
ing him more power of the same sort, knowing he will still make "just the same 
xise of it. This is beautiful consistency, and yet, this is the character of the 
democratic leaders of this State. They are leading us to destruction — some be- 
cause they are cowards, some because they have a share in big war contracts, 
some because a certain railroad company is making money out of tne war, and 
some because they are political demagogues and are seeking pojiularity and 
office. Such leadership is a disgrace to the great and glorious party to which we 
belong, and it is criminal longer to siibmit to it. I saj-^ it is criminal longer to 
submit to it, because by following such leadership we make ourselves .sujiporters 
of the war and parties to the ruin of our coiintiy. 

It is of no use for these leaders to undertake to escape responsibility for the 
consequences of the war, by making S23eeches at, or writing letters to, indigna- 
tion meetings against the arbitrary measures Of the administration. Mr. Lincoln 
cares nothing about all this, so long as they give him the war power, and furnish 
him all the men and money which he requires to accomphsh the work of our po- 
litical subjugation. Their protests and remonstrances in words and on paj^er, do 
not trouble him, while by their acts, they comply with aU his demands. He is 
quite satisfied with such democrats, ile has never arrested or disturbed one of 
them. They answer his purpose in the long run quite as well as republicans — in 
some respects better. It is only -peace men whom he is afraid of, and whom he 
incarcerates in bastiles or banishes from their country. But the war democrats 
he knows can do him no harm. They are his best friends. Thej' give him what 
he wants — hosts of armed men. He knows that these war democrats are dream- 
ing of contesting the Presidential election with him. This does not disturb him. 
He is content that they should dream on. In the meantime, by their aid, he is 
maturing his measiires, extending and strengthening his arbitrai-y system, so that 
when the time for electing the next President shall come, our war democrats will 
find that the military power, which they have assisted in fastening upon the coun- 
try, will control that matter. Then if there be any leading war democrat who - 
has been dreaming of the Presidency, he w ill awake to find how fatal that dream 
has been not only to himuelf, but to his country. 



26 

No, no, fellow citizens — trust not these men. Their counsels are delusive — 
their leadershii^ is fatal. Already they may have carried us so far that it is too 
late to save our liberties. Listen not to any man, follow not any man, who has 
not the sagacity to see, and the honesty and moral coiarage to declare, that there 
is no escajDC from the perils which surround lis, no hojie for the re-establishment 
of free government in this land, but in immediate peace. Trust not to a party 
triumph, iiuder the leadership of war democrats, for deliverance. Such a triumph 
will never come — for if any war party is to carry the election, it will be that 
party which inaugurated the war^ and which -will have in its hands, if the wai- 
shall continue, the means of pei-petuating its ascendency — and if a war democrat 
should, against all probabilities, be elected to the Presidency, the event woiild 
not bring peace, but still war, unending war. These men are pledged to the 
prosecution of the war until the Union shall be restored. A strict adherence to 
that pledge would make the war interminable. The South never — no never — 
will entertain a proposition for a reconstruction of the Union while this war 
lasts. She will say to us, as she ought to say — withdraw your armies, give our 
land peace, and our people security, before we "will even entertain propositions 
looking to re-union. Then, when this shall take place, let all just and reason- 
able efforts be made to re-unite the divided sections of our country. But this 
may fail. It may be — it is likely that it will be — that the Southern people, in 
view of their crimsoned fields, their ravaged plantations, their desolated homes, 
the black and smouldering ruins of their towns, cherishing the memory of their 
martjTred dead, brooding over the million wrongs sustained by the living, and 
recollecting the fiendish spirit with Avhich they have been pursued, for onlj' as- 
serting the rights assured to them by the Declaration of Independence, and ever 
claimed by them as among those reserved to the States imder the articles of 
Union, will refuse to grasp in friendship and confederation, hands red with the 
blood of the noblest, the bravest and the best of their citizens. If this be so, let 
us accept it as one of the misfortunes of this accursed war, and trust to time and 
renewed intercourse in peaceful pursuits, and a conduct on our part which will 
win back that confidence which we have so shamefully abused and forfeited, for 
a restoration, at some future time, of a political Union so beneficial to both sec- 
tions, when characterized by mutual good faith, fraternal feeling, and honest ob- 
servance of the federal compact. But whether we are to have re-union or contin- 
ued separation, let us have peace, to save our own liberties, and restore our true 
national life. 



GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN. 

As he appeared thejjight in the hall were partially diminished. He said — it is 
only the lights of the hall, not the light of the Union that is out ; that is not out yet. 
He announced himself as a copperhead, and a copperhead for the Union. It was not 
a copperhead that beguiled Eve, but a black snake. He spoke in an amusing vein for 
some time, keeping the audience in a roar of laughter. He defended Abraham Lin- 
coln, whose whole idea was property in slaves. By getting Western Virginia to sep- 
arate from the Old Dominion he had acknowledged the right of reunion. After pro- 
ceeding in this strain for some time he reverted to this war and its cause. England 
was the cause of the war ; Charles Francis Adams should Jje recalled ; Lord Lyons 
should be notified that the summer weather was coming and it would be more pleas- 
ant for him at home ; stop the exportation of grain ; fit out jirivateers with munitions 
of war for Ireland ; was to smash up the Abolition party, and he had done it. The 
Democratic party never have understood Abraham Lincoln, 

He moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform. 

And by the proclamation and illegal arrests he had secured to the Democratic party 
Indiana; Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, which otherwise the Democratic party never 
would have carried. By purchasing the slaves of the district he had made the aho 
litionists acknowledge the right as citizens, at least as yet, ot the United States. He 
did not wisli to act tiie demagogue Ijy placing himself liefore the public on every oc- 
casion, and but for the fact that he believed it a great necessity he would not intrude 



27 

himself there that night. Let them remember the old adage, that "eternal vigilance 
is the price of liberty." He would not address them on the Constitution, because 
they all understood that much better than Abe. Lincoln — (cheers)— and if they did 
and keep on being strictly neutral, and practice fully the lesson England has taught 
us. He was for peace— peace and the Union of the United States— not war and dis- 
union. If it was necessary to have war to save the country he would be one of the 
first to fall in the trenches for tnat purpose. He pronounced a eulogy on McClellan, 
and said he would be recalled in six months. 

The Convention then adjourned. 



STAND NO. 2. 

The meeting at stand No. 2 was not opened until a few minutes past seven o'clock 
when the crowds about the other stands became so dense that many hundreds were 
unable to do more than catch the sound of the speakers' voices on stands 3, 4 and 5, 
which were opened at an early hour. The inspiring strains of Wiegand's bras» band 
drew the nucleus of the crowd before the balcony of the Cooper Institute, and in a 
quarter of an hour many thousand persons thronged the great square. 

Mr. Peter Fullmer called to order, and on his nomination, Hon. A. C. Nivan, of 
Sullivan Co.. was called to preside over the meeting. 

/ 
THE CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS. 

On taking his seat the chairman addressed the meeting in substance as follows : 

There was a time when it was a matter of pride and exultation for a man to say, 
"I am a Roman citizen," when Rome was in her glory, before she was degraded in 
the eyes of the world by the misrule of petty tyrants and demagogues. So there has 
been a time when it was a matter of congratulation for any man in any part of the 
world, to be able to say " I nm a citizen of the United States.,' It was a proud di.s- 
tiuction, a guarantee for safety throughout the world. (Applause.) This was be- 
cause the country, through its rulers, had determined that they would ask for noth- 
ing which was not right and submit to nothing which was wrong. (Applause.) Are 
we in that elevated condition now .' (" No, no." Under the rule of petty tyrants 
and political demagogues we are no longer what we were two years ago. Our sale- 
guards and our glory were in our free institutions. 

These made us a great and a proud people. These free institutions were the 
inalienable rights of man, purchased by a seven years' war with the mother coun- 
try, and chief among them was free siieech, which I only enjoy to-night through 
the kindness of Heaven and the vote of the conservative people of this free State, 
who chose Horatio Seymour for their Governor. (Great applause and cheers for 
Seymour.) Had we failed in the election of last November, no voicQ could now 
be heard in favor of free speech or a free jDress, without the penalty of incarcer- 
ation in some military bastile. The Administration has tramiiled on the right of 
freedom of speech and the liberty of the Press and has torn mauj' of our citizens 
from their homes and families, and thrown them into prison for no crime, even 
without a knowledge of the offense charged against them, or theii- accuser. I 
know that one noble instance is now in your minds — Vallandigham. (Prolonged 
applause. ) What they have done to him, they would do to us, who are here to- 
night, if they dared it in the Empire State. ["But they dare not."] But this 
very morning it was announced by the Press that one of the petty militaiy tyrants, 
who are the tools of the Administration in this course had stopped the circulation 
of a free paper of this city. [Groans.] What are we coming to, if these things 
are allowed ? I am glad to see in your faces here to-night, evidence that among 
th« people of the Empire State a spirit has been aroused which will not ba put 



^8 

clown by oppression, [applause, "never, never,"] and in unison with this spirit, I 
have come to-night to raise my voice among you for free speech, a free press, the 
right of habeas corpus, the right of trial by jury as the inalienable rights of the 
citizen. The time has now gone by for smooth talking, we must act, and we 
must stand up under all circumstances, and in all places for the rights the Con- 
stitution guarantee to us. We claim, and we must have them. We. have met to 
speak of the termination of this war. Is tliere any luan here who wishes to see 
it continued as it is ? ["No, no!"] Has there not been enough of treasure ex- 
pended, blood spilt, widows and orphans made, to 'Carry on this war for the pur- 
pose of political demagogues ? Is it not time for the people to say, "not one cent 
more of treasure, not one drop more of blood [great applause], to carry on this 
unconstitutional war ?" [Continued applause]. What is the war for ? [Cries of the 
nigger — nigger — nigger."] Yes, it is for the negro, and these would be philan- 
thropists who make him their idol will not see or think that you can make of him 
nothing more than he now is, that freedom will only make him more miserable. 
The war is for him, and we have had enough of it. In the words of President 
Lincoln, ' 'after we have fought and fought, this matter must be broiight to an end 
by a compromise." We miist go to our brethren of the South with the olive 
branch, not with the sword, to carry peace, not to devastate towns and villages. 
The war must no longer be carried on as it has been by the petty tyrants who are 
the tools of this imbecile Administration. The speaker in conclusion, reverted to 
the fact that in the aiidience before him, he recognized one man who had been 
torn from his family and friends and incarcerated in a Government Bastile, for 
no other crime than being a Democrat, and exercising the rights of a freeman 
of free speech. 

The crowd here began loudly calling for "Wood," "Wood," and' order was 
only restored by the Chairman introducing Judge McCunn, who was received 
with loud cheers for "McCumi" and " Habeas Corpus." 



Speech of JUDGE McCUJKH. 



Fellow-Democeats : I hope, after this demonstration, that the slavish doc- 
trine of passive obedience to this weak Administration has passed away. Amid 
the carnival of incapacity and ruin which has befallen our common country, 
through this admininstration, the grievances ofthe people are left unheeded, while 
political proscription is most um-elenting. Their -^VTongs are aggravated by in- 
sult, their liberties taken away without redress, and their persons incarcerated ; 
in such a crisis, no honest or brave man shoiUd remain silent or inactive. I have 
hopes yet for our country, and a firmer belief in the unsophisticated masses of our 
citizens ; their understanding and their manners may be uncouth, but they have 
hearts to distinguish right from wrong ; they understand the rights of human- 
ity, and I am confident they have spirit and courage to maintain them. At the 
end of two years of bloody war, we are burdened with a fearful debt. We see our 
best General forced from the field, not for incapacity, but because General Mc- 
Clellan, like a majority of the j)eople, differed widely in his political views with 
the Administration. Had Mr. Lincoln relied upon the reputation for honesty of 
purpose with which he solemnly inaugurated his administration, he might have 
supplied the place of all other and absent virtiies ; but no, he has departed from 
this purpose, and has long since added the last negative to his character, and has 
openly confessed he is destitute of the common spirit of the man. In a good cause, 
in the cause of right and justice, or against a foreign foe, our armies are invincible. 
But on the side of Abolition fanaticism, on the ground of aggresion to the South, 
and confiscating their chattels, we cannot succeed. . The South was the great ba- 
sis of our power and wealth, and if she falls she will fall like the strong man of 
old, carrying with her the pillars of our institutions. A set of bad men, sectional 
politicians, have obtained power without the voice of the majority ; they have 
stormed the ramparts of our Constitution, and are busy dismantling its fortifica- 
tions ; the citadel of our liberties is overturned, its strong Malakoft' is nearly un- 
tenable, and nothing remains for us but to throw ourselves noblj"^ in the breach, 
regain our lost intrenchments, or perish in the attemijt. I know I speak excited- 
ly, bat our country is on the verge of ruin — I am not pleading the cause of an in- 
ilividual, but the rights of a great and grievously wronged people. I contend not 



29 

for special favors to the South, but for cvcn-hauded justice. I shall ever contenrl 
that the South owe obedience to the Constitution, to our laws of trade and navi- 
;^ution, to our postal arrangements, the defense of our common country against a 
foreign foe, and all other Federal obligations ; but let tlu^ line be clearly drawn 
between these objects and their personal property, their personal and State rights, 
and their domestic State institutions. 

The indiscriminate hand of Abolition vengeance has marked, with crimson 
blood, the door-posts of the dwellings of union aiid disunion citizens, the inno- 
cent and guilty alike, for their blind and special vengeance, and they have de- 
termined that all who differ with them in their mad career shall be swept away 
by their foul plague of fanaticism. No man wishes for the restoration of the 
Union more than I do ; to preserve it and make it more permanent, if possible, is 
the dearest object of my life. To maintain the rights and honor of my country, 
T would give the last coat from my back, and the last ounce of my heart's warm 
blood ; l)ut to a war such as we are now w;iging, unfair in its principles, to es- 
tablish a mere idea or sentiment, fanatical and ruinous in its consequences, I 
would not Contribute a single effort or a single shilling. I do not desire to see 
our country more humiliated. I do not ask for vengeance on the heads of those 
who were the principal cause of our troubles. I only recommend that they re- 
trace their steps, lest fearful punishment awaits them \ for if this great country, 
throtf^h their wild schemes or evil doings,^ is di\-ided permanently, I would not 
give a day's purchase for theii- safety. Brother Bcecher has already discovered 
the hand\\Titing on the wall, and has taken flight accordingly. The struggle of 
the Southern people, contending for their rights against Northern fanaticism, is 
the gtruggle of a great and powerful people. They will spurn, with a mixture of 
horror and detestation, any proposition emanating from Mr. Lincoln or his party, 
because he and they have violated every pledge and promise they have made. 
He said, in the beginning, he would administer the affairs of the nation under 
the Constitution, and that the special institutions of the South would be protect- 
ed.; through this promise, he obtained seventj'-five thousand men, and the 
united wealth and enthusiasm of the North. When he obtained this number, he 
changed his policy of conciliation, and determined to conquer and abolitionize 
the South. He has had fifteen times this number, and too long years of cruel 
and bloody war have passed, five hundred thousand of our best men'have perished 
in the attempt, their bleached bones whiten every glen and mountain in the 
land ; the men whom they called cowards, knaves and fools, have been victorious 
on almost every field, and in the midst of victories have set examples to our 
rulers of a moderation worthy of imitation ; and yet this is the great peoi^le these 
madmen seek to conquer. Think of the million' of white labor destroyed in this 
war ; of the toiling nineteen or twenty millions of o)ir own kith and kin 
they are saddling vsith an enormous debt, a debt that will take oceans of salt 
sweat from the poor man's brow, before it i's paid off. Not only the nineteen or 
twenty millions now existing, biit the untold millions of unborn sons of toil, who 
must come, and go, and slave, and work, before it is cancelled. War enslaves 
the toiling and consuming masses, and enriches and makes aristocrats of the few. 
Do these madmen think of the hearths made desolate, the homes made roofless, 
the widowed mother and the wandering orphan, the thousands of dying braves 
fallen in battle, lying in those ghastly fields of slaughter, with life's sweet warm 
blood ebbing fast away, without a cup of cold water to cool their parched lips in 
the last dark hoiir of their bitter agony? And all this, in Heaven's holy name, 
for — "what?" To establish a mere sentiment, in behalf of a wretched race to 
whom God has not given brains enough to appreciate our efforts. And then re- 
member, after all these ^vrongs and sufferings, borne by an ever-patient people, 
how our great country must suffer in the presence of an entire world, when the 
truthful and scathing pen of some Kinglake wTites the historj-'of the backslidings, 
the imbecilities and corruptions of the authors and abettors of this cruel war. 
Look at Hayti, one of the most beautiful islands of the group, and hear what 
Underhill says : 

" We passed by many, or through many abandoned plantations, the buildings 
in rain, the sugar mills decayed, and the iron pans strewing the road-side ; 
cracked and broken. But for the law that forbids, on pain of confiscation, the 
export of all metals, they woiild long ago have been sold to foreign merchants. 

" In the time of the French occupation, before the Eevolutiou of 1793, thou- 
sands of hogsheads of sugar were produced ; now, not one. All is decay and 
desolation. 



80 

"Look also at the beautiful Island of Jamaica, containing about 6,400 squara 
miles, of the richest soil in the world. The value of her exports in 1809, before 
emancipation, were over $16,000,000 ; after emancipation, in 1853, they wero 
only $-4,000,000." The assessed valuation of property in the island before 
emancipation, 1843, was $250,000,000 ; its assessed valiie in 1852 was only $37,- 
000,000 ; in the same year the number of estates ruined were as follows : " Sugar 
estates abandoned, 199, or 275,000 acres. Coffee plantations abandoned, 162, or 
493,000 acres. " Andthe jJrocess has been going on since the act of emancipa- 
tion. The Cyclopedia of Commerce says, " that the negro is rapidly receding to 
a savage state. " Another Abolition Joiarnal says : 

"There is no blinking the truth. Years of bitter experience, years of hope de- 
ferred, of self-devotion iinreqiiited, of prayers unanswered, of sufferings derided, 
of insults unresented, of contumely patiently endured, have convinced us of the 
truth. It must be spoken oi^t loudly and energetically, despite the wild mock- 
ings of "howling cant." The freed West India slave -will not till the soil for 
wages, the free son of the ex-slave is as obstinate as his sire. The negro has 
been bought with a priced — the price of English taxation and English toil. He 
has been redeemed from bondage by the sweat and travail of some millions of 
hard working Englishmen. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been distilled 
from the brains and muscles of the free English laborer, to fashion the Wesf 
India negro into a 'free, independent laborer. ' ' Free and independent ' enough 
he has become, God knows, but labor he will not." 

Captain Hamilton, a ^vitness before the House of Commons, testified that .Ta- 
maica, without any exaggeration has become a desert. A Mr. Baird, one of th« 
most strenuous advocates of the Emancipation Act, says : 

" Let a visitor see with his own eyes, the neglected and abandoned estates — the 
uncultivated fields, fast hurrying back into a state of nature, with all the speed of 
tropical luxuriance — the dismantled and silent machinery, the crumbling walls, 
and deserted mansions, which are familiar sights in most of the British West 
Indian colonies. Let him then transport himself to the Spanish Islands of Porto 
Rico and Cuba, and witness the life and activity which in these slave colonies 
prevail. " 

Ex-Governor Wood of Ohio, another anti-slavery advocate, after a visit to Ja- 
maica, says : 

" Since the blacks have been liberated, they have become indolent, insolent, 
degraded and. dishonest, They are a rude, beastly set of vagabonds, lying naked 
about the streets, as filthy as the Hottentots, and I believe worse. " 

Sewall, another Abolitionist, says : 

" There is not a house in decent repair ; not a wharf in good order ; no pave- 
ment, no sidewalk, no drainages, and scanty water ; no light. There is nothing 
like work done. Wreck and ruin, destitution and neglect. The inhabitants, 
taken en masse, are steeped to the eyelids in immorality. The population shows 
unnatural decrease. Hlegitimacy exceeds legitimacy. " 

Now, then, let us compare the statistics of the prodiicts of the Island of Ja- 
maica and Cuba, as between the two systems of free negroism and Slavery : 

Jamaica, in 1809 • $16,166,000 

Cuba, in- 1826 13,809,388 

Jamaica, in 1854 4,480,661 

Cuba, in 1854 ■ , 32,683,731 

1 merely cite these extracts to show the ruin that emancipation would bring on 
this favored country if these fanatics could be successful in their efforts. But 
why need we go to the Indies for examples ? Look at the ruin and desolation, 
tlie very attempt to free this race of wretched creatures, and whom God never in- 
tended should be free, has already brought upon our own beautiful land. Nearly 
a million of our own flesh and blood slaughtered ; grief and sorrow brought to 



81 

every fireside ; our southern countrjs the source of all our wealth, laid waste and 
desolate ; uud the once happy slave now runninf? riotous and wild as in his sav- 
a£;e state. We will soon have destroyed half as many white men in this unholy 
war as there are slaves in the southern country. I trust this demonstration to"- 
nip[ht is the beginning of a great campaign that will hurl back far beyond the 
Merrimac the mad, seething tide of fanaticism which has been surging" far over 
our fair land, and which will settle forever this question. We will have to do bat- 
tle, it is true, against the purse and the sword, the millions of office holders, con- 
tractors and satellites of the Admiuistrati(jn. But let us gird np our loins and ])(\ 
prepared to do this battle peacefully ; let us organize in everv hamlet and town 
throughout the whole length and breadth of this land. We have the great Jeho- 
vah of Peace on our side, the poor man's haven of safety and plenty before ns ; 
our enemies are in league with the destroying angels of battle and' of death as 
their allies. There can iii such a contest be but oiie result— a glorious triumph, 
a happy and united people in the end, and then " Peace will have her victorie.s 
as well as war." 

The Hon. T. H. Hyatt was the next speaker. Owing to the hight from which 
he spoke, and weakness of voice, he could not be well heard, and again the crowd 
became clamorous for "Wood," "Wood." Mr. Hyatt spoke as follows : 



Speech of the Hon. T. HART HYATT. 

Mr. Prksident and Democratic Feli.ow-Covenanteks : We meet together on 
this occasion at a momentous crisis in the history of our beloved country. We 
see massed before us a mighty host of freemen : gathered together as "by one 
spontaneous impulse from the remotest borders of this great Empire State ;"Free- 
men who have come up to this metropolis to deliberate Tipon the momentous 
events that are now rocking this mighty nation with a co7^^^^1sion that is felt in 
its direst throes from one extreme to the othci-, of this vast Republic. We have 
met together as freemen ; we mean to speak as freemen : to act as freemen, wor- 
thy of our venerated sires who fought aiid died to establish the liberties which 
have so long been our pride and boast. Our fathei's bequeathed to us a glorious 
heritage ; a Government that secured to us freedom of speech, freedom of the 
press, freedom in religion and freedom in civil rights ; it voiichsafed the "great- 
est good to the greatest number." Under the nsgis of the great charter thus 
granted us ; under the auspices and the protection of the glorious Constitution 
Avhich bound us together in the strong bonds of national brotherhood, we had be- 
come a mighty nation ; a nation revered as well as feared by the great national- 
ities of the earth. Our little band of thirteen Confederate States had swelled its 
auxiliaries to nearly treble that number. Our land was teeming with wealth, 
smiling -with prosperity and happiness But lo ! a malign change hath come over 
the spirit of our dream. We hear the tramp of war-like hosts through our hith- 
erto peaceful streets : the earth trembles under the shock of embattled legions, 
as brother meets brother upon the ensanguined field ; the thunder of artillery 
peals upon the startled ear like the death-knell of departing Libei'ty. Anarchy 
and bloodshed are rife throughout this late peaceful land. Ciarse on the fratrici- 
dal hands first raised against our country's Liberies and Peace — against the in- 
tegrity of our glorious Union ! So say the people, and we all respond Amen ! 
Who hath \\TOUght this accursed change V ^^^lo are these bloody parricides 
whose hands are red and reeking ^\^th fratricidal blood? They are the abolition 
fanatics of the North, and the fire-eaters of the SoiTth — the demagogues of the 
land. It is needless, before an intelligent audience like that before us, to attempt 
to recapitulate the means, the modus operandi by which these fell purposes have 
been consummated by these opposite factions, acting from di.stant and extreme 
))oints, and from diametrically opposite motives ; both aimed at the same end — 
the dissolution of our glorious Union and the prostration and destruction of our 
revered Constitiition. Those who have watched the progress of events in the po- 
litical history of tmr country for the past (piarter of a century, will be less 
amazed at the present state of our distracted couutrv, than those who have just 
awoke to the danger and peril that are now apparent to all. Wise, conservative 
statesmen foresaw the danger that was iq)proaching, and sought to avert its ca- 
lamities ere it was too late. The D(>mocratic party, in the main, have long strug- 



• 32 * 

gled to foil the malignant enemies of our Union in their nefarious designs. We 
warned, we expostulated with those wild fanatics, and soiTght to deter them from 
their mad designs. It required no very sagacious seer to foretell what would b« 
the result of their atrocious assaults. 

In January, 1851, over twelve years ago, the one who now addresses you (and 
he craves your indulgence for these personal reminiscences, ) in resuming his du- 
ties as editor of a political joiirnal, referring to the efforts of these fanatics at the 
North and Sovith to widen the breach between these sections by refusing to caiTy 
out in good faith the compromises of the Constitution and the new measures of 
compromise which we had just entered into through our Congressional represen- 
tatives, littered these words : 

" If ever our Union is torn asunder (which God forbid) it will be on that dark day 
when the people, forgetting their high position and becoming insensible to the high 
privileges they enjoy, shall suffer themselves to be led blindfold to the vortex of disso- 
lution by those political incendiaries, who, inflamed with a passion to ' rule or ruin,' 
and with the ' one idea' that they are the only philanthropists of the age, are rushing 
to 'treason, stratagem and spoils,' with the holy name of Liberty on their hypocritical 
lips. Such are they, whether at the North or South, who are striving to irritate the 
public mind, and who seek to repudiate or nullify the laws of their country. But we 
do not believe they will ever be able to accomplish the diabolical ends at which they 
aim. There is too much virtue, inteUigence and patriotism among the masses of the 
people to allow such a catastrophe to be consummated." — \_Rochester Daily Adv., Jan. 
2, 1851, 

Again : 

"Equally reprehensible are all the agitating movements of Abolitionists in all our 
Northern States. They only lead to strife and civil discord. They are the bane and 
the curse of our country. They are more destructive to the harmony and prosperity 
of our country and its glorious political institutions, than war, pestilence or famine. 
And, if the God of Heaven does not curse our country with all tnese evils, it will not 
be because we have not deserved it, by abusing the blessings and privileges which 
have been vouchsafed to us, and by going astray after false gods. 

." It needs not the wisdom of a prophet to foresee that if these agitations are not si- 
lenced and discontinued, the days of our Kepublic are numbered. And wo to the van- 
dal hands by which such a catastrophe is brought about or premeditated." — \_Eoches- 
ter Daily Adv., Jan. 16, 1851. 

But alas, our confidence in the virtue, intelligence and patriotism of the peo- 
ple, seems to have been more sanguine than events have warranted ; and our es- 
timate of the iiower of the fanatics and "political incendiaries," appear to have 
been as far below our true mark, as our hopes and confidence in the vigilance of 
the people was over wrought. That "dark day" has come, and the vandals 
have succeeded in whelming our country in anarchy and blood. For two years 
have civil war and discord raged throughout our land. The vnld fanatics of the 
South have become desperate. The mad fanatics of the North have brought 
such a " pressure " to bear upon our weak, vascillating Executive, that he has 
been induced to "issue his bull against the comet," in the face of his own pro- 
testations of its impotency, to decree the abolition of slavery, where he could not 
reach it ; and the staid, conservative. Union-loving peoi^le of the South, thinking 
that the war for the restoration of the Union, had degenerated into a negro- 
stealing war, so far, at least, as the purposes and designs of the Administration 
and of those who clamor loudest for blood are concerned, have resolved to stake 
their all in the great contest, and been driven to work, shoulder to shoulder, with 
their fire-eating neighbors, in the great struggle to save their "peculiar institu- 
tion," which is a vital element in their political and civil economy. Now, if I 
understand the great aim and desire of the people who have gathered in these 
thronging masses on this occasion, it is to see if some measures cannot be 
adopted to bring back those conservative, Union-loving men of the South to 
their old love of the Union ; to re-assure them that we are not all bloodthirsty 
cut-throats at the North, nor insatiable malignants ; that we are neither thirsting 
for their blood nor fighting for their negroes ; that if they will throw down their 
arms of rebellion and come back to the old family of the Union, there is a large 
body of their brethren of the North, may we not hope a vast majority ? who are 
willing to receive them with open arms ; under the good old Constitution as it is, 
and into the Union as it was, before Vandal hands had sought to tear the stars 
and stripes from that glorious old Banner ! Long may it wave ! This hope of thus 
bringing about an honorable peace, upon the basis of a restoration of the Union 



• 33 

by peaceful measures, may be a "forlorn hope :" but, nevertheless, I believe, 
most sincerely, that it is our only hope. How else "are wo to have peace and a 
cessation of the strife and bloodshed that is now filling our land with devastation, 
lamentation and woe ? Our pot-valiant heroes tell us we must conquer a peace ; 
crush out the whole people of the South, if need be. I tell you. fellow-citizens, 
it is e.isier ^aiJ than done. Our soldiers, it is true, have fought nobly and 
bravely ; they have been led up to the slaughter, and have died lilvc heroes in the 
discharge of their conscientious duty. But what can bravery and valor do, when 
marshaled, and set on, as has too often been the case, by mercenaries, who care 
not for their country's honor or glory, but only for their own gain, and the carry- 
ing out of an insane idea about the negro ? Who does not sympathize with the 
gallant soldiers who are so ruthlessly victimized by a corrupt Administration and 
its mercenarj' minions ? And what true patriot would not exchange all those 
mercenaries for one McClellan ? The people of the South, however mistaken and 
infatuated, are terribly in earnest ; their all is at stake ; they are a brave, gallant 
people ; they fancy they are in the right ; their zeal has become a mania. I 
have, ^vitllin a few days, seen an extract from a letter by a rebel officer in Texas, 
who was a zealous Union man, so long as he had a hope of the reconstruction of 
the Union, written to his wife in this State, iu' which he says : ' ' We are a nation 
of soldiers ; our cause is our religion ; the god of battles is ^nth us. The instinct 
of self-preservation raises armies for us and supports them. The justness of our 
cause strengthens our hearts and nerves our arms. H> trill 7>ot be conquered. 
Then let the white winged messenger bring peace again upon the world, and up- 
on nations happiness and prosperity." This is the feeling which inspires the 
people of the South. Their cause is their religion, and like the adherents of 
Cromwell, they will fight on, fight ever, and vnW, while ' ' trusting in God, keep 
their pcvder dry." 

They have yet to be convinced that though "enemies in war, in peace we are 
friends ;" that we seek not their conquest, but their voluntary return to the 
broherhood of the Union. I know that these efforts of ours for concilia- 
tion and peace Mill be misrepresented and maligned by bad men and fanatics at 
the North, and perhaps our motives may be misunderstood by some who are hon- 
estly in favor of fighting it out to the bitter end. I am aware that it requires 
more courage to advocate peace in these piping times of war, when such a martial 
spirit has been aroused, when so many fortunes are made by carrrying it on, and 
so much glory is anticipated in butchering our fellow-citizens at the South — I 
know, full well, that it requires more courage to face the frowns and assaults of 
those warlike advocates than to face an army with banners, or to seek the "bub- 
ble i-eputation at the cannon's mouth ;" nevertheless, lam willing for one, to incur 
the opprobium of attempting to make at least one more effort for an honorable 
Peace, and to save our country from this dreadful carnage, and from the dangers 
of an irreparable dissolution. When all efforts for a peaceful adjustment of our 
difficulties shall have been exhausted and found ineffectual, it is time to consider 
the necessity, and propriety, and justice of trying to conquer a peace by the 
sword. The State paper, i^t Albany, the leading organ of the black as well as red 
Republicans of this State, has, within a few days, warned all peace men against 
the doom that is to await them — it says : 

" The Tories of the Revolution were speedily engulfed in an ocean of infamy. The 
Federalists of 18 2, who withheld men and monc.'y from the Government, went out in 
ignominy and disgrace. The Whigs who opposed the Mexican war, which had in it 
less righteousness than either of those which preceded it, found the 'hospitable 
graves' to which the soldiers who fought its bittles were invited. And those, what- 
ever cognomen they are known by, who either oppose or hold back from this war, will 
fall as much lower and sink as much deeper than either of their predecessors, as their 
crime ia greater than theivs."— I Albany Eceniag Journal, Maii 23, 18G3. 

Now, we must confess that while we fail to see the analogy between a people 
fighting for their liberties against a foreign foe, as we were in the revolutionary 
struggle, as well as in our later war with Great Britain, and the present warlike 
effort to reconquer the South to liberate their slaves, we think the allusion of our 
republican organ to the Mexican war, is rather an unfortunate one. So far from the 
Whigs who opposed the Mexican war, being doomed to the "hoFpit^ble graves 
to wiiich the soldiers uhu to\-.ght its batllts Meie ii.vit(d," the \tij "VMiig /Icm 
Corwin I who uttered the atrocious seLtiment and suggestion to the Mexicans to 
"welcome our soldiers to hospitable graves," instead of being thus entombed 
himself, is one of the pets of Mr. Lincoln's tidminiij'tration ; has been picmoieu 

3 



34 • 

to one of the highest posts in the gift of the Government ; is at this very moment 
Envoy Extraordinary atwl Minister Plenipotentiary of Mr. Lincoln to the Govern- 
ment of Mexico. And Giddings, another rampant opponent of the Mexican War, 
is Mr. Lincoln's Consul General to Queen Victoria's provinces of Canada, look- 
ing after the affairs of runaway negroes. And Greeley, who denounced the Mex- 
ican War, and insulted our soldiers \^dth such virulence that he was publicly 
burnt in effigy in the Park of this city, is well known to have made Mr. Lincoln 
President, and to hold such a terrorism over that functionary as that he dared not 
refuse to issue the Emancipation Proclamation at Greeley's bidding, although he 
had but a few days before assured a committee from Chicago that he would do no 
such thing ; that it would be as silly an act as for the " Pope to issue his bull 
against the comet." And a host of other prominent Peace Wliigs, or opposers of 
the Mexican War, have been rewarded by the present Administration with confi- 
dence and place. Even Mr. Lincoln himself, if he did not actively oppose the 
Mexican War, opposed President Polk iu his prosecution of the war, in the only 
speech of importance, he — Mr. Lincoln — made while in Congress. So that if To- 
ries and traitors were ignored or punished in the days of the Revolution, they are 
petted and promoted under Mr. Lincoln's administration — if they happen to be 
of the right party stripe — as thay always are ! But there is one other little speck 
of a war ! in fact it might be called the iNiriATivE of the present ci^^l war that is 
now deluging our country in blood, that our Albany organ of Republicanism for- 
got to mention. That was the war (or raid, it is sometimes called, by courtesy 
or by a][X)logy) of John Brown and his fellow-consi^irators, upon the soil and 
institutions of a sovereign State. Yes ! John Brown and his Abolition coadjutors 
were the first armed traitors ! and if the rash leader met.wdth his just reward, a 
traitor's just doom, by whose hands was it ? Was it by the hands of the mock 
patriots who are now shouting so lustily " down with the traitors," and who ai'e 
branding as traitors and ' ' copperheads" all who will not enter into this infernal 
crusade of blood and rapine for the almighty nigger ? Ah ! no. These Aboli- 
tion patriots are singing "hallelujahs" to old John BrowTi, as they " go march- 
ing on " to the damnation of their country ! They sang funeral dirges at the 
gi'ave of the hanged traitor ; they have embalmed him as a hero and a martyr, 
and go worship at his polluted shrine, like the devotees of a Mahammed or a Bud- 
dha. And what was done with the co-conspirators of old John Brown ? "Where 
are they now ? Helper, the father, the instigator of the infernal ' ' Crisis, " has 
been rewarded by this patriotic administration of Mr. Lincoln, that we Demo- 
crats are called upon to support, with a consular appointment in one of the South 
American States. Thaddeus Hyatt, who was thrown into prison for refusing to 
reveal to a congressional committee what he knew of the treasonable plots of his 
abolition co-conspirators, has been rewarded with a consulate iu France, by this 
patriotic Administration ! Giddings, another sympathizer and abettor of John 
Brown has, as we have already seen, been punished by a lucrative appointment 
in the Canadas, by this appreciative Administration ! And Seward, the ajjostle 
of the "higher law" dogma, the fomenter of the "irrepressible conflict," is Mr. 
Lincoln's Prime Minister ; the Warwick of this baneful Administi'ation ! That's 
how real traitors at the North are punished by the powers that be ! We are told, 
by the minions of the Administration, when in their supplicating mood, (just be- 
fore an election), that during such a perilous time as this, in our country's his- 
tory, we should ignore party ; should banish all party feelings and prejudices, 
and support the Administration. And all this in the face of the fact, that this 
Administration has turned out every Democratic postmaster, every Democratic 
Custom-House officer of importance ; every Democrat holding a foreign appoint- 
ment, to make place for such patriots as we have seen. This is the way the Ad- 
ministration ignores party. Where was there ever a cooler piece of assurance ? 
And yet, even some wiseacres, calling themselves Democrats, say we hiust sup- 
, ])ort siich an Administration ! Yes ! we must supjaort this Administi-ation in its 
Abolition crusade ; in its destruction of the white man to save the negro ; in its 
l)lundering the people of their hard-earned property, by an abominably extrava- 
gant system of taxation to support party favorites ; in creating hordes of officials 
f () eat out the substance of the nation, and then placing the heel of military des- 
jiotism upon the necks of the People ! This is the Administration, these the 
atrocious measures, that we, as Democrats, are called upon to suj^port. Fellow 
Democrats ! will ye do it ? Will ye be the sycophants or slaves of snch. a despo- 
tism ? Will the terror of imprisonment or banishment, such as has been visited 
upon the gallant Vallagdigham by the tyrants in power, induce any Democrat 
■within the hearing of my voice, tamely to submit to be gagged ; to have his lib- 



36 

erty of speech, his liberty of conscience, his birthright as a freeman taken from 
him ; and yet be so craven as to kiss the hand that smites him ; to bow down in 
abject submission to such a despotism ? 

Who would be a traitor koare. 
Who so base as bo a slavd, 
Let him turn and fleet" 

No ! we will not, either in word or deed, support the Administration in laying 
violent hands upon the Constitution of our country and robbmg us of our rights 
as freemen ! We will not support its arbitrary stretch of power, its edicts of des- 
potism, in despoiling the people of their rights as citizens and freemen. No ! we 
■wall (not support any administration in these usurpations. We may have to sub- 
mit, but not silently) to them, yet a little longer, because we seek to punish ths 
infraction of our Constitution, and the encroachments upon our liberties, only by 
constitutional means. We are not anarchists. Wo will bear and forbear until 
forbearance ceases to be a virtue. But the powers that be, must beware that they 
do not drive a maddened people beyond that point of forbearance. In the noble 
patriotic words of our Democratic Governor, Horatio Seymour : "We pause to 
see what kind of a Government it is for which we are asked to pour out our 
blood and our treasure. The action of the Administration will determine, in the 
minds of more than one half of the loyal States, whether this war is waged to pu 
down the Rebellion at the South, or to destroy free institutions at the North. 't 
If the Democracy are to support this Administration in all its measures — right or' 
wrong, without a why or wherefore — wherein do we differ from the Black Repub- 
licans themselves ? It is only in name. We know there are some in the Demo- 
cratic ranks who profess a determination to support the Administration even in 
its most odious measures ; but who, at the same time, keep up a constant, covert 
assaidt upon the same Administration and all its prominent measures. They 
have not the coui-age to refuse to pi-omise support ; but their support is a hollow 
mockery. We do not envj' such their honesty or their character for consistency; 
nor shall we follow their example. And we are gratified to know, that the few 
uncertain Democrats who assail our motives and our plans to biding about peace 
and a restoration of the Union, without further bloodshed, are those who be- 
trayed the Demoratic party in 1848, and stood upon the Buffalo Platform ; that 
baneful movement which did more to give character and potency to the Aboli- 
tion idea, which has now culminated in its legitimate fraits, than any other 
movement or measure, save, perhaps, the heresies of the Chicago Platform of 
1860, between which tmn-platforms there was a strong affinity. It need not 
grieve us, life-long Democrats, much, to be called hard names by such patriots ! 
I think we shall survive it. They have been too short a time in the Democratic 
ranks to give weight to their sayings. The Democratic party has always been, 
and ever will be, loyal to the people, loyal to their country, loyal to the Consti- 
tution, and loyal to the Union. We will never be diiven ti-om that platform. 
Pardon me, INIr. President and Fellow-Democrats, if I have assumed too much in 
speaking thus for one, for the Democratic Pai-ty. I feol that I have some right 
to speak for the Democracy. The first political ai'ticle your speaker ever wrote 
for the press, while yet a youth, was one in defense of Gen. Andi'cw Jackson, 
against the charge of being a Traitor ! Yes ! even Androw Jackson, was, Uke our 
worthy Governor, and many of our most distinguished and loyal Democrats of 
the present day, as weU as the gallant and patriotic McClellan, stigmatized as a 
traitor by the very class of shaky politicians who now affect a most holy rever- 
ence for the name and character of the Hero of New Orleans, and whose whole 
lives have been sj^ent in plotting treason against the Constitution and laws of 

• their countiy. The first Presidential vote I ever gave was for ^Uidi-ew Jackson ;• 
and for thirty-three years I have voted no other than the Democratic ticket, pure 
and undefiled ; and I intend to vote no other, so long as God in liis Providence 
lets me live ! I claim, therefore, a sort of })Vtscriptive right to speak as a Dcmo- 
crijt and for the Democracy ; and let the wild lauiitics shout "traitor " and " CoiJ- 

l^perhead," and bastard Democrats utter thuir anathemas against us ; and let 
timid Democrats, whose judgments are convinced but who yet lack the nerve to 
speak and'act with lis, waver and hesitate for a time, yet wo will speak in the 
name of Democracy, and we will speak and act like freemen, without waiting 
for permission from any politiciU comuiittea or dictatorial junto, and despite tha 
terrorism of a drumhead com-t -martial. 



36 



Speech of Mr. WM: D. MURPHY. 

I am here, fellow citizens, in obedience to a formal invitation to address you upon 
this occasion, and it is not as a new convert to tlje peace policy that I appear here to 
advocate it; for I claim the honor of having made the first public peace speech ever 
made in the State of New York — ^af plause) — and for that speech I was kicked out 
of the Union Convention at Syracuse in the fall of 1861. I was kicked out of that 
convention for making a peace speech at the imminent peril of my life ; but, thank 
God, I have lived to see a respectable number of my fellow citizens ready to co-oper- 
ate with me and to share my views. I am a pence man, and I am also a Union man. 
If I were not a peace man I could not be a Union man ; for, in the language'of Jack- 
sou and Clay and Douglas, war and dissolution are convertable terms. War is 
eternal and everlasting sei^aration I am a peace man because I am for the Union, 
and I am opposed to the war because I am opposed to dissolution. But we cannot 
have a peace based upon the restoration of the Union as long as the present adminis- 
tration party remains in power. You must put them out of power. (Several voices 
— " We'll do it.") You must get rid of tlie men who have deluged this land with fra- ' 
ternal blood, before you can get an honorable peace with the South. (" That's the 
talk.") Peace now must be upon the basis of separation. (" No, no !" " Yes, yes !") 
Peace now. I say, must be upon the basis of separation, because the South will never 
consent to anything short of a recognition of her independence while the republicans 
remain in power at the North. But let there be a conservative admioisiraiiou in 
power and let the South understand that their rights will be' preserved, and then wo 
will have peace upon the basis not of separation, but reunion In a country lilie 
ours, where the government rests upon the affections of the people, no war power can 
ever preserve it. I have been of posed to this war from the beginning, because I 
Lave lell sure that the Union could be preserved only by peace. A great deal has 
been said about Vallandigham of late and the manner of his arrest, but I have not 
heard of any person who has expressed sympathy with his sentiments. I stand here 
to-night to endorse Vallandigham's doctrines. (Great cheering.) I insist that in 
all the speeches ho evertmade he never uttered a sentiment inconsistent with the 
preservation of the Union of these States. He said war could not preserve it, and 
he was right. Talk about Abe Lincoln. I never thought a great deal of him, and I 
thmk a damned sigiit less of him to-night than I ever did in my life. I am proud 
to see this great peace demonstration, and iJ you make up your mimls to drive out 
the men in poAver at the next election nothing can prevent you from doing it. — 
But do not suppose that the republicans will do anything to aid you in resKiring 
the Union. [■• D.imn the i-epublicans."] When 1 made my peace speech in 1861. I 
was told that it was too soon. I replied that I thougiit it was too late; and if after 
all your exertions you should still find yourselves uuable to make peace with the 
South on the basis of Union, it will be because this peace movement begins too late. 
I am in favor of in 3n taking a clearly djtiiiei position in this matter. I do not like 
those who aru not for one policy nor for the other. I am all for peace, and opposed 
to war, but if over there is a revolution here at home against the men who have 
brought our country into its present sad condition, 1 want you to put me in the front 
ranks. 



Speech of SENATOR, EDWARD A. LAWRENCE. 

FELLow-DinrocKATS — I am happy tc> be with you on this great occasion. Uigl^gr 
and holier duties never devolved upon any assembly. You have left your bu% 
workshops— and I liave no doubt the phvces of amusement AviU be Ihiijly attended — 
because the spirit of the people is awakened to the cause of their liberties. The lib- 
erties of the people are in danger. It dors ray heart good to see the citizens of the 
great Empire State standing forward, dote rmined that they shall be protected though 
the heavens and the government of Abral lam Lincoln shall fall. The resolution 



37 

and address that have Ween read are hut a reiteration of ■what I wouhl say — what 
the democrats of the Empire State, and the democrats of the whole North have reite- 
rated at their great national convention'*, ami the Resolutions of '98 and the address 
of Jetferstm to the Virginia Legishiture, which declare that when grievances are too 
great to be borne — and which, by tlie way. Aliraliam Lincoln at one time ithe igno- 
riiinus) iiad sense enou'^h to sp?ak of when h'! was in the Congress of tlie United 
States, statin^' that all pcoph had a right to throw off the control when its grievances 
were too great to be borne. ^Applause ) My friends, the interest which you should 
feel in this assembly to-night, and the sentiments contained in the address and re.-'O- 
lutions. are the greateit that ever came before, the people .since the Ue;daration of 
Independence. (Applause ) We are determin'^d to be free! Freedom of speech, 
freedom of the press — ^applause)— the right of trial by jury. That which would not 
be denied to a murderer, has been denied to many of your citizens. (Groans and 
hisses.) When I ask you to step forward and defend your liberties the people tell me 
to wait for the ballot-box. I ask y ai what is it worth if wo have not the fn edom of 
the people It is high time that the citizens of New York, in tlieir majesty and 
manhood, should trample down under their feet this violation of their constitutional 
rights. Have the powers of the democratic party beco?ne impaired.' ("No, 
never!") Have its niauly proportions become dwarfed? ("Never") 1 don't be- 
lieve they have The constitution of your counirj' says that the Executive shall 
not send within the limits of any State soldiers to use force, unless it is by the re- 
quest of tlie Executive of the State. The power of that Executive has been decided by 
the constitution (Applause.) Abraham Lincoln, with his menials, lias determined 
to deprive you of your liberties — (hisses)^but !*ay we wil' not submit to it, and you 
will not submit to it. There is one thing moie important th.in all This is tlie first 
public demonstration of that sentiment which was placed in the constitution by the 
framers of that great instrument — that the powers of these States cannot be called 
upon to enforce obedience in any derelict State It must be an enforcement of laws, 
not of military despotism. James Madison said that when this Union became 
alienated in the breasts of those who made it, ten thousand limes better were it to 
dissolve the bauds than to send- military despotism within its borders. (Prolonged 
applause ) 



STAND NO. 3. 

This stand, thoTigh less favorably situated than others, was surrounded befor© 
eight o'clock by a large and enthusiastic crowd, which evidently appreciated tha 
objects for which the meeting was called, and loudly applauded such seutimenti 
as seemed to look toward an honorable peace. 

Hon. N. HiU Fowler called the audience to order, and named Hon. H. G. On- 
derdonk, of Queens County, as Chairman. Mr. Onderdonk excused himself from 
speech making on the plea of indisposition and at once introduced Hon. Chauu- 
cey BuiT, amid loud applause. He said : 

Speech of Hon, C. CHAUNCEY BURR. 

Fellow-Citizens : 

When Mr. Grey made his celebrated speech in the British Parliament, against 

a continuance.iOf the war with France, he declared that, "nothing short of the 
utter rnin of his coimtry would induce him to move for peace." The same mo- 
tives move us. Our object is not treasonous but patriotic. Wc seek not the de- 
struction but the salvation of our country. We are here to-night not as traitors, 
but as patriots. (Applause.) We are here as freemen, to exei'cise the right of 
freemen (shouts " That's so,") and to denounce, to whatever extent our judgment 
and our con.science dictate, the opinions and the acts of public men. If wc have 
not this right, then the Keimblic has ceased to exist. If we have notilBiis right, 
when did we lose it V If this right is gone — if the Constitution is gone— whose 
work is it ? Not the work of the people assembled here to-night. It is not out 



38 

work. We come to proclaim our innocence of any share in this great crime. 
We come to wash out hands of the blood which is drained from the nation's 
heart. We are for peace, not because we hate, but because we love our country. 
We are for peace, not for dishonor, but to save all of honor that patriotism and 
wisdom can preserve from the wTeck which faction and fanaticism have brought 
upon our country. It is an honorable, and not a dishonorable peace that we 
seek. A peace on the basis of the Constitution — a peace built upon the founda- 
tion principles of govei'nment that were laid by ov;r lathers, and which sustained 
the stiipendous and increasing weight of glory and prosperity our country enjoyed 
from 1787 to 1861. (Cheers.) 

We believe, with the lamented Stephen A. Douglas, (cheers) that "War is dis- 
union — final and eternal separation," and therefore we are for peace. ("That's 
so.") Those who are conducting the war do not any longer insult the intelli- 
gence of the people by pretending that it will restore the Union. They have the 
magnanimous impudence to declare that, the " Union as it was cannot and 
ought not to be saved." (Derisive laughter.) A distinguished Eepublican mem- 
ber of Congress said, not long since, that ' ' no one but a fool believes it possible 
to save the old Union. " If he means by war, we agree with him. It never was 
possible. It never ought to be possible ; because war, such as this, is a siibver- 
sion of the vital, central, voluntary principle on which the Union was established. 
There can be no such thing as an involuntary Union. (" Good.") Not even the 
Bunsbian wisdom of Abraham Lincoln (groans) could grasp either end of such 
an absurdity. He can believe that the Federal Government is older than the 
States that made it — that is, that the child is older than the father who begat 
him, biit it would bring his comprehensive intellect to a halt to grasp such a self- 
contvadictory thing as an involuntary Union. _ The Union was the voluntary work 
of sovereign and independent States. Thirteen States achieved their indepen. 
dence of Great Britain. In the treaty of peace with England each of the thir- 
teen States were separately named as parties to the treaty. Each exercised its 
sovereignty in the act of forming the Union. Each exercised its sovereignty in 
the act of forming the Union. Each had a right to accept or reject the Constitu- 
tion which made the Union. Each acceded to it in its own time, after long and 
earnest debates. It was all the business of sovereignty. In joining the Union 
no State parted with any portion of its sovereignty, but simply agreed to exercise 
that sovereignty jointly, in certain specified matters, through the Federal Gc^- 
emment, as the general agent of the joint sovereignty of all the States. All the 
powers of the Federal Government are only ' ' delegated, " and therefore not sov- 
ereign powers. The parties which delegated these powers to the Federal Gov- 
ernment are the sovereigns. The constitution of all the States assert their sover- 
eignty. In the Convention which formed the Constitution of the United States, 
they refused to delegate any powers to the General Government which would di- 
vest them of their sovereignty. (Cheers. ) Twice a proposition was brought be- 
fore the Convention to allow the Federal Government to use. the force of arms 
against a delinquent State, and each time it was rejected without a vote in its 
favor. In explaining this matter to the Convention of the State of Connecticut, 
Judge Ellsworth said of the Federal Constitution : This Constitution does not at- 
tempt to coerce sovereign bodies — States in their political capacities ; no coercion 
is applicable to such bodies. " On the question of allowing the Federal Govern- 
ment to use military power against a State, under any consideration whatever, 
Mr. Madison said "a union of States containing such an ingredient, seemed to 
provide for its own destruction." Mr. Hamilton said, "to coerce the States is 
one of the maddest projects that was ever devised." This is the language of the 
men who made the Constitution of the United States. On no other grounds 
could the Union ever have been formed. It was formed by concession and com- 
promise, and on no other grounds can it be preserved. (Cheers. ) To attempt to 
preserve it by war is revolution — is pulling out the key-stone of the arch on 
which the Union rests. "War is dissolution," the lamented Douglas declared. 

The man who professes to be in favor of both the Union and the war, must 
have either bad brains or a bad heart. The one is the destruction of the othei'. 
If good and honest men have supported this war, they have betrayed a deplora- 
ble ignorance of, or indiS"erence to the principles and nature of our government. 
If this war is not wrong from the beginning — all wrong — then the principles held 
by the Democratic party, from the days of Jefferson till now, are fundamentally, 
fatally wrong. If the war is right, the Democratic party has been a cheat and a 
fraud for sixty-fi||B years ; for it has, over and again, affirmed the Kentucky and 
Yirginia resolutions of 1708, which, if you will take the pains to read them, ez.' 



39 

hibit this war as the most gigantic folly and crime of history. (Great cheering.) 
For one, sir, I cannot, and will not, go back upon the principles which I have 
adhered to all my life, and which I can see no reason for forsaking now, when 
the very form of the government of our fathers seems dissolving in blood. When 
so many bend to the madness and delusion of the hour, there is the greater need 
that those who have not lost their reason or their honor should hold aloft the old 
banner of the llepublic, and proclaim, in the very teeth of usurpation and de.spo- 
tism, the sacred doctrines of the Union and liberty. (Loud cheers. ) 

It is "treason" to love the Union as it was. "Treason" to believe in the 
Constitution as it is. " Treason" to love our whole country, and wish to wash it 
of the dirt and blood with which faction and sedition have covered it. Even to 
complain of the wrongs we endure is " treason," too ! Good God ! have we not a 
right to complain. (" Yes, yes.") Have we not a right to shed a tear and heave 
a sigh for our country, torn, and bleeding, and plundered by the cormorants of 
despotism? (Cheers.) Shall we be deprived of the last resource of patriotic rea- 
son, lamentation and regret ? Men are thrown into bastiles (groans, ) or banished 
from their families and their homes, for proclaiming their hopes of, some day, 
seeing the Union restored to what it was, when it came from the hands of Wash- 
ington, and Jefl'erson, and the fathers of the Revolution. You see the seats of 
power filled with traitors, and mountebanks, ("True for you!") and jugglers, 
and if you refuse to smile approvingly upon the grovelling mass of hypocrisy and 
stupitlity, you are marked as an enemy of the government." Of what govern- 
ment ? Is Ml'. Lincoln the government ? Ai-e six feet two inches of ill-shaped 
bones covered with a mass of wrinkled and badly compacted (Laughter) flesh, 
the government of the United States ? Are the wriggling greenback and shoddy 
kings of the Cabinet the government ? Are the Burnsides, the Hascalls, and other 
like tools of brutal imbecility, the government ? (No. ) What government is this, 
where absolute and irresponsible power is wielded by auctioneering generals, mi- 
baptized in any religion except that of rapine and lawlessness ? [Laughter and 

■ cheers.] Men who have just skill and courage enough to hold an unfleshed 
sword in one hand and pick a pocket with the other. Are these fellows the gov- 
ernment ? Dihgent collectors of ex parte evidence, pensioners of concealed spies, 
who hover Like ill-omened birds around a man's dwelling by night. God in 
heaven ! are such creatures as these, or their more culpable masters, the govern- 
ment? ("No ; down with them?") To denoiance all this damnable machinery of 
desiDotism is called "opposing the government." Well, sir, the man that will 
not denounce it, is a traitor both to God and man. It is precisely because this 
cursed machinery is breaking up the government of our coiintry that we do de- 
nounce it. And we shall continue to denounce it, though it rain bastiles, and 
Sewards, and Lincobis, and Burnsides as thick as the chimeras of hell, which the 
sword of .Sineas could not pierce. 

The party in power is using the war as an excuse to break up the government 
of our country. ("That's it.") Under the impudent assumption of a war power 
they are crushing the Constitution and the laws under their feet. To render the 
military superior to the civil power, is revolution— is to destroy the government 
and substitute a despotism in its place. That is jiist what the war is doing. Can 
any patriot, any Democrat encourage such a war? ("No.") Can you separate 
the war from its objects ? Can you find a way to give your benediction to the war. 
and ^s'ithhold your approval from the objects for which it is confessedly carried 
on ? Do you not see, do you not know, that instead of trying to bring the South 
back into the Union, they are working to fasten themselves in power. (Cheers. ) 
They are as greedy of ofiice as the wretch in the fable of Aristophanes who sat so 
firm to the seat of power that he grew to it. When Hercules jjuUed the scoun- 
drel ofif, he left all the sitting joart of the man behind him. (Laughter. ) Allow 
these men to go on as they have been progi'essing for two years, and you will 
never get them ofl' their seats with a less indecent display of fundamental vil- 
lany. Secession, the hated spawn of abolition, is bad enough ; but the purpose 
of these men is something worse than secession. Secession leaves ua our Consti- 
tution, whole and perfect as it was when it came from the hands of our fathers in 
1787. It leaves us the habeas corpus, the right of trial by jury, protection from 
unreasonable searches and seizures. It leaves us the Temple of American liber- 
ty, perfect in all its sublime and immortal glory, covering a larger number of 
States, and a population five times greater than it did when it was first reared by 
the genius of our forefathers. (Cheers. ) But the purpose of these mad and 
bloody revolutionists strikes down the whole temple with one blow of ruthles.s 

despotism. Secessionism simply deuias the jvuiscUction of tta Uiut«d States over 



40 

its territory. It leaves to vis, who are here, all of constitutional liberty and law 
that we ever enjoyed. It says, " I am out," but it does not profess to meddle 
with us who are iu. It does not come here and break into our houses and drag 
us forth by brutal hands at midnight. Its crimes are territorial, and, as we may 
say, external. Bat the crimes of these abolition revolutionists are internal and 
fundamental. Secession sti'ikcs at the territorial dominion, abolition revolution 
at the organic structure, of the government. 

I hear a great deal of all-be\nldering jargon and nonsense about preserving the 
life of the government. Well, sir, the life of a government does not consist in 
the extent of its dominion, but in the preservation of its constitution and laws. 
The constitution is the soul of the Republic, and those Avho are seeking to sus- 
pend or annihilate that are the scoundrels who are destroymg the life of the gov- 
ernment. That is what we mean to do sir, preserve the life of our government. 
As God is our Judge, we have no other motive in this plea for peace. We are 
for peace, because we see that war is used as an excuse to destroy the fi-ee insti- 
tutions of our country. We are for peace because we know that this war is revo- 
lution. It can exist only by a suspension of the Constitution, and by a destruc- 
tion of the immortal voluntary principle on which the government was built. 
We are for peace because we are for the Union as it was. To those who say that 
peace means disunion, we replj', war is disunion. We knotv that war is disunion. 
But we hope that, with peace, union yet is possible. (A voice — "It is.'") We 
' can do no more. If the Union is never restored, it is because war has killed it. 
If it is never restored, the blood that strangled it is not on our hands. We did 
not murder it. We neither planned the horrid fratricide, nor struck the deadly 
blow. We lift up these hands to Heaven, that God may see them clean of our 
brother's and our country's blood ! 

But, I am appealed to not to distract the democratic party. Sir, my feeble in- 
fliience shall never be used to distract the democi-atic party. That party is the 
last refuge of our country from the bloody despotism that devours it. But what 
is Democracy ? It is not a shuttle-cock. It is not a chameleon, to change its com- 
plexion with every new substance it lights upon. It is not a cunning policy for 
contractors, and sharpers, and office-seekers to fill their greedy bowels with 
plunder. It is a great principle — a profound and sublime philosophy of govern- 
ment, that promises to all Peoples and States the right of self-government, the 
free and uncontrolled choice of their own domestic institutions and laws. 
("That is Democracy!" Applause.) The doctrines I have eunciated hereto- 
night, are those which have been held sacred by the democratic party in this 
country from the days of Jefferson and Madison, the founders of the party, to the 
close of the Administration of James Buchanan. ("That's so.") There is the 
record of its principles. No man will dare to enter the field of controversy and 
deny that I have faithfully adhered to it, in the brief statement of iDrinciples, 
touching the war, which I have here made. Sir, I have not forsaken these prin- 
ciples. I have stood by them when the whole moral elements of society were up- 
heaving, like the ocean driven by the fury of the storm — when mobs of fools and 
madmen ran after me in the streets — when would-be assassins entered the place 
of my abode in the dead hour of night, with the jargon of idiots on their 
tongues and the fury of devils in their eyes— when weak men gave way for fear, 
and bad men went over to the enemy for plunder — but I have not uttered a 
word of recantation of the ancient Democratic faith, and I \\ill not, until you 
give me some better reason for doing so than the slavering cry of the mob or the 
delirious threats of the lunatics in Washington. 

Sir, I live in New Jersey — gallant, honest, glorious New Jersey — which was the 
only northern State that gave its electoral vote against Abraham Lincoln, and 
will be the last to submit to his intolerable despotism without a manly resistance. 
(Three cheers for New Jersey. ) Well, nine-tenths of those calling themselves 
Democrats in New Jersey are opposed to this war, just as you are, who have as- 
sembled at this Peace Convention. For aught I know, that o«e-tenth may say to 
the nine-tenths, "Don't distract the Democratic party!" There are, I know, 
men in this world capable of exhibiting just that amazing degree of modesty. 
But suppose the nine should say to the one, "why do you seek to distract the 
Democratic party with principles which you know are foreign to Democracj' ?" 
Read all the platforms put forth by National Democratic Conventions, and let us 
see how you will twist them into the support of this war ! You have gone back 
upon the ancient principles of the party — a thing you have a right to do. But 
you have no riglit to blame us because we will not go back. You have no right 
to blarae ub, because we are not gifted with the same agility for shuffling off 



41 

principles as yourselves. To oiir mind, "war Democrat" has as sensible a 
meaning as black white man. 

We hear of such, particularly in the plaudits of the disunion "loyal-leaguers." 
They are mightily fond of "war Democrats." And well they may be, for they 
are a kind of fish that easily take the hook that is baited with a greenback or 
negro. They have caught a good many— such as Dickinson, and Tremaiu, and 
Brady, and John Van Baren. "Life-long Democrats," the Kepublican papers 
call these gentlemen of easy political virtue. Just, I suppose, as one Judas 
might be called a " life-long disciple of Jesus Christ. Seven-tenths of the Demo- 
crats of the country are for peace, if for no other reason because they believe the 
Union cannot be restored by war ; while, with peace, they believe restoration 
possible. This is the position occupied by the Democracy of New Jersey. The 
platform of the Democracy of the good State of Connecticut is the same. It is 
the sentiment of the Democracy of all the Western State's. If it is not the senti- 
ment of the Democracy of New York, then the party in this State is an exception, 
and vnW be a disturbing element in the next National Convention. Every well- 
informed man knows th-.it the position of Mr. Vallandigham represents the senti- 
ments of almost the entire Democracy of the great North-West. If there is any 
danger of a disturbing element, it must be in that small fraction called "the war 
Democracy." But it will not be strong enough to disturb or arrest the mighty 
ground-swell of pubUc opinion which is everywhere setting in for peace. In six 
months from this date, the "war Democracy" -n-ill be well understood to mean 
Livcohi I)pniocrac;i. There will be an odor of greenbacks and shoddy about it 
which all the waters of the ocean cannot wash out. 

But, it is asked, what would you do ? Stop fighting, as the first step towards 
doing anything for the restoration of the Union. Until yoii stop fightii^g, you 
work oi\ly at destruction. Those who are conducting tlie "war tell you they do 
not want, and will not consent to have the old Union back again. Now, that is 
quite enough. If you support them one inch further in the bloody strife you are 
a traitor to the Union you profess to love, and to the government that was made 
by your fathers. ' ' But the South will not come back ! " Not while you fight 
them — not while you seek oiily to illumine their skies with the light of their 
burning dwellings, and to fill their beautiful vallies with the blood of their peo- 
ple. It is the brains of a fool, or the heart of a fiend that councils yoi; other- 
wise. "But how shall we stop fighting ?" That is the question of a luimtic. 
The man who does not know how to stop fighting is fit for Bedlam. Stop ! 
That is all there is about it. Yon know how you began. You know how you 
have gotie on. You know that the only result is so much debt — so much blood — 
so manj' dead men or so many cords of greenbacks to your personal credit — and 
not an inch of progress made toward saving the Union. 

The only question is whether j'ou shall stojD now, before you have mined the 
country past all hope of redemption, or go on until there is nothing left of a once 
proud and great country worth saving. ' ' But what means would you use to stop 
the progress of ruin ?" Speech, the press and the ballot. While these remain, 
you can lawfully use no other While these remain, you need no other. "But 
suppose these are swept away — what shall we do then ?" Fight ! The man who 
will not risk his life to preserve the liberty which our fothei-s gave their lives to 
establish, deserves to lose his freedom. The gallant General Fitz John Porter, in 
a letter to the Philadelphia Vallandigham demonstration, declared to the Ameri- 
can people that he was prepared, if need be, to fight for freedom of speech and of 
press. (Three cheers for General Porter. ) That was well said. Such brave 
words strike the popular heart just now. But, while th it sort of soul is in us, let 
us be patient. Let us break no law. While we are teaching tyrants that they 
shall not with impunity breitk the laws, let us guard well our own steps, that we 
be driven into no breach of them ourselves. All lawful requirements of the gov- 
ernment are to be cheerfully obeyed. Whether we like those who administer it 
or not, the government is none the less ours, and we must stand by it. But let 
the usurjjers know that, if they destroy this government of Constitution and laws 
— if they sweep from us the freedom of speech and the ballot, then another gov- 
ernment is established. Tlien the good right arm of every man becomes the gov- 
ernment, not only de facto hwt jure divino. [Good]. Our brave forefathers made 
this kind of government most honorable. They strewed with unfading glory the 
path of resistance to tyrants. We, sir, shall learn to follow in their footsteps, if 
pressed to the same extremity. Gen. Hallcck. in a letter to the "Loyal League" 
of this city, threatened to come North and put his heel upon those whom they de- 
nominate "Copperheads." Well, sir, let him come. I trust in God that when ho 



42 

does come on that errand, lie will get a view of something besides our backsides. 
At the same meeting, Postmaster-General Montgomery Blair said that we were all 
" men of gibbets."' If that is so, we shall hold the ropes in oiir own hands ; and 
Montgomery Blair may furnish one neck for the occasion, if his patriotism leads 
him so far. Sir, we know what these men mean. Their military elections in va- 
rious jjlaces show what they are after. The deeds of Burnside in Ohio, and of 
that other fool, Hascall, in Indiana, tell the whole story, show what the Adminis- 
tration party means. These men are nothing, are less than nothing in them- 
selves. But they attract the eye of the world, as the tools of the bloody and bru- 
tal despotism that is struggling to fasten itself in power at Washington. Gover- 
nor Seymour has unveiled all in these fearful words : " It is revolution ; it will 
not only lead to despotism — it establishes military despotism." That, gentle- 
men, is all you have to show as the results of two years of war, except the blood 
of our brave soldiers. The result of two years of war is military desjiotism over 
ourselves. The North is a good deal more conquei-ed than the South. It is true 
that we have liberty here in New York — but this is no thanks to the Administra- 
tion. For this we have to thank that pure-minded patriot, that brave and incor- 
ruptible man. Governor Seymour. Through his fidelity to laws and constitu- 
tional liberty, the whole country will yet be redeemed from the reign of tyranny 
and blood. Through his example of executive purity and pluck, the march of 
despotism will be checked, and turned back from its treasonous aims. ["Three 
cheers for Governor Seymour."] In the meantime, let us preach peace. Not be- 
cause we expect to get peace while this Administration is in power. Not that we 
mean to make any illegal resistance to the measures of the men in power ; but 
we mean to wipe our hands clean of the blood of this war. They have left us no 
alternative but to denounce the war, or to endorse the objects for which alone it 
is conducted. They have left us no alternative but to denounce the war, or turn 
traitors to our government, our country, and our liberty. [Great applause.] 



Speech of NICHOLAS HILL FOWLER, 

Mr. Fowler was introduced amid much applause and proceeded to speak in 
s ubstance as follows : 

The citizen who shrinks from the performance of a great and important duty 
when external and internal ruin envelope his country, when human sacrifices are, 
relentlessly, piled in bleeding and smoking hecatombs on the altar of war, de- 
serves to be the slave of despotism ; the minion of tyi'auts. [Cries of " We 
never shall."] The history of our country from 1776 to 1860 incontestibly proves 
that the Kepublic, with its varied conditions of Union, that the latter we're based 
on, delegated Congressional and reserved State rights. In every step of our na- 
tional progress from its incipiency to the- present period, the jealousy of the peo- 
ple in relation to State Rights, and their determination to protect them from all 
encroachment of the Federal Government, is as clearly and forcibly portrayed, as 
were the characters traced by the mystic hand on the palace walls of the Tyi-ant 
of Babylon, significant of his destruction. Randolph and Madison, of Virginia, 
and Hamilton, of New York, denounced coercion as impotent, unconstitutional 
and incompatible with the liberties of a free people. General Hamilton proposed 
a consolidated Government, a centralization of all political power in the Presi- 
dent of the United States, but the proposition signally, utterly failed. On the 
offering of a resolution to the Convention framing the Constitution, May 31st, 
1787, to empower the President to employ the whole national armed force against 
a delmquent or rebellious State, James Madison, of Virginia, rose and declared 
that the more he reflected on the use of force, the more he doubted the efficacy 
or the justice of it ; a compact of the States containing such a condition or ingredi- 
ent seemed to provide for its own destruction ; he moved that the consideration 
of the clause be withdrawn; the motion was agreed to without a dissenting 
voice. Upon a later consideration of the subject, this great statesman ex- 
claimed : " Any Government of the United States formed on the supposed prac- 
ticability of using force against the States must prove visionary and fallacious. 



43 

On the 18th of June, 1787, Hamilton again entered his protest against State coer- 
cion ; How, said he, "can force bo exerted against the States collectively? For- 
eign Powers will not be idle spectators. They will interfert^ ; the confusion will 
increase, and a dissolution of the Union will ensue." The Republicans and Abo- 
litionists assert here and in the cities of Europe that our Government is a conso- 
lidated Government, that it is a Government of the people, by the people and for 
the people. [Groans for Abolitionists.] The Constitution was never submitted 
to the people collectively, but to the States, individually, for ratification. The 
States would have flown to arms ere they would have submitted in those days, 
those halcyon days of patriotism, to a consolidated Government. The assertion 
that ours is, constitutionally, a consolidated Government, is the offspring o f 
Black Republicanism. In the language of Shakespeare, ' ' The wish is father to 
the thought." If it be consolidated, a weak, corrupt Cabinet and a venal Con- 
gress have so made it : they have grasped the sword and the purse of the nation ; 
they have trampled down the great charter of our fi-eedom — and seated on the 
pinnacle of ill acquired power-, if not of infamy, vauntingly exclaim to a be- 
trayed, insulted and despised people : this is a consolidated Government. 
[Hisses.] The Constitution was framed by the best and most untiring efforts of 
the wise and the good ; and ere its shadows shall be eclipsed forever in the dark- 
ness of an administrative despotism, it is our duty to impress its provisions on 
the present and coming generations as among the noblest political eftbrts of the 
human mind. As one of the amendments demanded by the people previously to 
signing that hallowed instrument, I will road the following : "Congress shall 
make no law abridging the freedom of speech or the right of the people to assem- 
ble peaceably." 

How far have the President and his chosen Cabinet respected this condition ? 
They will not dispute -with us the right to assemble pea,ceably ; but they daily 
seek to circumscribe our power to execute that right. Are there any other North- 
ern States, save our own and New Jersey, which dare to call together a Demo- 
cratic assemblage like the present, to pass judgment on the President and his ad- 
visers ? Not one ; nor should we be allowed this constitutional privilege under 
any than a Democratic Governor like Horatio Seymour, who appreciates the 
rights of his State, asserts them boldly, and dares to maintain them. [Cheers for 
Governor Seymour. ] If the President has power to suspend the ^vrit of habeas 
corpus, he has power to annul the Constitution ; he has power to make his will 
the law of the land, and you and I his vassals. 

When the venerable sage of Kentucky, Crittenden [cheers], proposed the geo- 
graphical dividing line between the slave and the free states, or sections, beyond 
which even demagogism should not jDass, who were responsible for the defeat 
of this humane and patriotic attempt at sectional and nation.al conciliation V 
Not the South, but the Northern Abolitionists and Republicans, the indorsers of 
and subscribers to "Helper's Impending Crisis." [Groans.] I have said the 
South is not the exclusive advocate of secession, and I again look back on history 
to verify the assertion. In the year 1811, when the people residing in the Terri- 
torj' of New Orleans petitioned to be received into the Union, Josiah Quincy, of 
Massachusetts, said : "If this bill passes, the bonds of the Union are virtually 
dissolved ? the States which compose it are free from their moral obligations ; it 
will be the right of all, the duty of some to prepare defimtely for a separation — 
amicably if we can, forcibly if we must." [Cheers.] 

I have placed before you what I deem to be the inevitable evils and conse- 
quences of our sanguinary and unnatural struggle ; the remedy may yet be in our 
power. What is its basis ? The preservation of the Constitution in its original 
purity ; the full enjoyment of and protection for our reserved State rights, guar- 
anteed by the Administration ; free speech, unfettered discussion on all that con- 
cerns the condition of our country united or of our States, independent and sov- 
ereign. [Cheers.] We denounce the suspension of the habeas corpus and the 
substitution of the military power, as an unwarrantable and illegal assumption of 
power worthy only of the d.4-EK ages of tyrannical despotism. ["Good."] We 
denounce the military midnight arrests by which our citizens are immured in ad- 
ministrative dungeons, without accusation, witnesses, trial or redress. ["Good."] 
We claim that every citizen's house is or should be his castle, through which the 
winds of Winter, alone, should be permitted unlicensed to enter ; we stand on 
these platforms as on the rock of our political salvation, as within a sacred tem- 
ple where Jeffersonian true democracy can alone enter, as a political a.sylum for 
her chosen disciples ; as the ark which contains what may be the final struggle 
for the last bast hop«a of man. [Cheers.] That Constitution declares the peo- 



44 

pie to be seciire in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable 
searches and seizures ; it decrees that no warrants shall issue but upon cause sup- 
ported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched 
and the person or things to be seized. Let us approach the Executive and his 
Cabinet in the language of truth — let us demand as American citizens a respect- 
ful attention to our suggestions for returning the sword to its scabbard and calm- 
ing the angry passions of an infuriated people. 

For what purpose are we assembled here to-day ? To appoint a jubilee to cel- 
ebrate the Presidential observance of a pledged faith ? Rather are we convened 
solemnly to protest against the wanton violation of the pledged political oath of 
the Executive against the destruction of the Constitution which he has sworn to 
maintain. [Applause.] The acts of the Administration have produced a politi- 
cal timidity among our people, but they are- right at heart. [Cries of "Yes, 
yes."] Go then in your majesty, to the Chief Magistrate of our country and his 
Cabinet ; assert your birthright — free discussion — an untrammelled press, an un- 
controlled ballot-box ; a strict observance of the Constitution, and an indomita- 
ble determination to obtain that for which your forefathers fought and perished ; 
national, constitutional, universal liberty, and above all, peace on the basis of 
mutual concessions without dishonor and -without sacrifice. [Cheers. ] 



Speech of DR. BARBOUR. 

The President then introduced Dr. Barbour of Richmond County. He was received 
with applause. He said he should not have appeared only that he thought it his 
duty to raise his voice in defense of his country. (Cheers.) Since the administration 
went into power the national debt had increased to one thousand millions of dol- 
lars, and before it went out, four years hence, it would amount to two thousand mil- 
lions of dollars. That was not to be considered for a moment to the thousands 
of noble heroes who had sunk in the swamps of the Chickahominy. Did our Adminis- 
tration expect to conquer the South ? (" ISIever.") At the same time that they were 
trying to emancipate the slaves, they were suspending the habeas corpus and difier- 
ent newspapers. (" Can't do it.") He concluded by saying, that they must preserve 
the Constitution as George Washington would have it, if they wished to secure 
their rights and liberties. (Applause.) 

The President then introduced Alexander H. Reeves, Esq., who made a short, elo" 
quent and patriotic speech. 



Speech of A. S. SULLIVAN. 

The President in introducing Mr. Sullivan said that he had been one of the v'ctims 
of the despotism of the present Administration. Mr. Sullivan was greeted with 
.cheers. He said as the President had introduced him in the way which he had he 
would merely say that he had been arrested by order of Wm. H. Seward. [Groans.] 
It was one of the most unblushing shames in history that men should thus be arrest- 
ed, and ho felt that it was an astonishing thing that the American flag should be 
prostituted to be the badge of a Bastile. He stated that under the order of Cameron 
and Seward, there had been a humped-back boy arrested because he had been caught 
in the act of selling the Daily News in the New York and New Haven cars. It was a 
lasting shame to New York that at the time that that boy was arrested, the 
hearts and nerves of the New York Democracy were so palsied that they should allow 
that poor boy to be taken up. ["Yes, yes, they can't do it again ; we won't submit to 
it."] He knew what they wanted. [A voice, " Peace."] Yes, but some say maybe 
peace would not restore the Union. It might be so, but war would never do it. [Ap- 
plause.] Peace would do it easier than war. He said that it we did not speedily 
make peace, we would not only lose the South, but divide the North. [" Jhat s so."] 
The party spirit was so strong out in Indiana, that he had heard that a dentist, who 
was a llepublicau, would not pull the tooth of a copperhead. [Laughter.] 



45 



Speech of D; C. ANDERSON; 

Mr. D. C. Anderson followed. Ho spoke strongly in denunciation of the arrest of 
Mr. Vallandigham, and trusted the people of New fork would never allow any other 
sentence than the one which had failed in eftect to be put in execution against him. 
[Groans from the audience, and cries of " Tlioy never shall."] He asked why the 
Administration did not try those despotic measures in a Democratic city. Burhsido 
had endeavored to suppress the New York Wuiid in his department. They once suj)- 
pressed the Lailij JV('"'.s here. It is Horatio Seymour who has again issued T/ic 
Nenis. Had he not been elected Governor last fall, wo should have had no free speech 
or free press here. Tlio speaker advocated peace according to the Constitution with- 
out regard to slavery. [Applause.] 



Speech of JUDGE McCUNN. 

Judge McCunn, who was received with loud cheers, was the next Speaker. He 
hoped the Administration would take warning by the demonstration that liad been 
made there that evening, and hasten to hand over the Government to the Democrats, 
who had guided the country safely for over sixty-seven years ; he meant the iJemo- 
crats South as well as North of Mason and Dixon's line. (Cheers.) If any party can 
conduct us through sixty-seven years of such unparalleled prosperity as we had en- 
joyed, he wanted to see that party take the helm of State. There is only way of set- 
tling this cruel and most relentless war. It must be done by the pen, not by the 
sword. Judge McCunn said he was about to yield the stand to one of the greatest 
men this State could produce- -Fernando Wood. (Immense cheering.) He (Mr. 
Wood) would tell them the only way to save the Union was by peaceful measures. 
The speaker believed if peaceful overtures were made, the South would come back 
under the Constitution. But this could not be hoped for under the present Adminis- 
tration. There was no rest for the counti-y until Lincoln was disposed of. (Ap- 
plause.) 

The Hon. Fernando Wood here came upon the stand and was received mth loud 
and long continued applause. The Chairman said it was unnecessary to introduce a 
citizen so well known and distinguished. 

Mr. Wood substantially repeated the speech he had delivered inside the Cooper In- 
stitute Hall. He was constantly interrupted by overwhelming demonstrations of en- 
thusiasm, and finally retired amid the Are of nine tremendous cheers. 

The closing speech on this stand was made by Mr. Francis Tucker, when the crowd 
dispersed with nine cheers for Peace, the Constitution, and the Union. 



STAND No. 4. 



The stand was filled at an early hour, and the throng assembled around it was 
of the most respectable character. The organization at stand No. 3 taking place 
a few moments sooner than that at this stand, contributed a Uttle to withdraw 
some of the throng, but at the opening of the meeting the crowd was still large. 

The Washington band discoursed several patriotic au-s during the evening. An 
efficient police force assisted in preserving the freedom of the stand. Beyond 
this there was but little occasion for their serricea. 



46 

But a brief time after the opening of the meeting, the crowd in front quite 
filled the area forming the triangle east of the Astor Place Opera House. The 
throng was very enthusiastic and expressed their sentiments by cheers and con- 
tinued applause. Those sentiments, most welcome to the audience, were those 
condemning the violent acts of the Administration and their arbitrary measures. 

Judge Smith called the meeting to order by nominating as President, Adam 
Fraliek, Esq., of Herkimer Co. , which was agreed to unanimously. Mr. Fralick 
on taking the chair said : 



Speech of Mr. ADAM FRALICK. 

Fellow-Citizens, Fellow-Democbats and Fkeemen : 

I thank you most earnestly and sincerely for the great honor you have con- 
ferred upon me in calling on me to preside over this meeting of enlightened free- 
men to-day. We have met on a very important occasion. The subject we have 
to discuss is one of the most important that ever exercised the minds of Ameri- 
can freemen. The question before us this evening is, shall we have war and dis- 
solution or peace with the restoration of the Union. [Applause.] We have now 
had two years of devastating war withoiit any favorable result. The young men 
of the country have marched to the battlefield -by hundreds of thousands, and 
there have sacrificed their lives in defence of the national flag with no result. It 
is not for me to say where the fault lies, or who is to blame ; but it is for us to 
consider whether this devastating war, that must inevitably bring ruin upon our- 
selves and our posterity, shall be continued any longer. In my opinion, gentle- 
men, the time has come when we should rise up en masse and prosecute a peace, 
and prosecute it to the bitter end, until we have peace and a restoration of the 
Union. [Applause. ] And, gentlemen, the only way that can be done, is to have 
the masses of the country meet in solid body, as I see you here before me this 
evenin", and there express their honest views and sentiments. You are the sov- 
ereigns of the country. The parties who are now in power are simply our 
agents, and whether they have done their duty we will leave the people through- 
out this country to decide. In my opinion there is a. terrible responsibility rest- 
ing somewhere, and that part of the discussion I will leave to the able speakers 
who are to speak from this stand this evening. This is the first great meeting of 
the Democracy of New York positively speaking out for peace, and I hope we 
wiU here to-night lay the foundation of a Peace Party that will not cease their 
efforts until a happy peace is attained and the Union restored, so that we may 
be once more one people, under one flag, having but one destiny. [Loud 
cheers. ] Gentlemen, I have now the pleasure to introduce to you the Hon. John 
C. "Van Loon, of New York City. 



Speech of Mr. VAN LOON. 

Mr. J. C. Van Loon was the next speaker introduced. He was received with 

applause. He said : 

We have come together to-day to vindicate Democratic principles. Having suf- 
fered iVom a devastating war, that has wasted the energies, the blood and treas- 
ure of the nation, the time has come when the voice of the people should be 
raised ag.ainst its continuance. The party to whom has been delegated the ad- 
ministration of affairs has deceived the people with false promises. They told us 
the war was for the restoration of the Union. We have learned that those prom- 
ises and professions are false, and the men in power have neither the ability .or 
inclination to keep them. They knew before hostilities were commenced, as well 



47 

as we know now, that -war was difsnnion. Such was the assurance piven us by 
that great statesman, now no more, Mr. Douglas, and we have learned its tnitli. 
[Cheers.] Whether this separation is to be eternal no man could say ; the whole 
people could alone determine that question. The Administration told us that the 
only way we could vindicate the honor and integrity if the Government was by 
"subjugating the South." This deceived the people and good Democrats rushed 
to arms. But we know now what we should have known then, that no people can 
be subjugated at the point of the bayonet. The experience of the past has proved 
this to be the case. He asked, what constitutes a Democrat and a patriot ; the 
terms are synonymous, and there is no Democrat who is not a patriot. And yet 
to-day some of the best Democrats and truest patriots are now lying in hospitals 
or lingering in exile. The Administration had demanded the flesh and blood of 
the peojile to sustain this course of things, to perpetuate such infamy. The peo- 
ple have put up with this state of things long enough. They feel that they have 
reached that point where patience ceases to be a virtue, and now they nay, no 
further patience, no longer will we leave the power in the hands of such an Ad- 
ministration. He could, if time i)ermitted, convict Abraham Lincoln before that 
assemblage, and before the people of the country of high treason. [Applause. ] 
It was well known before the war broke out, that there was no power in the con- 
stitution that permitted the General Government to make war upon a sovereign 
State. 

And all that has been done by the Administration was done -svithout authority 
of the Constitution. The question now is, whether the Democracy is to stand 
upon this unconstitutional war platform ? It was declared by the Ilepul)lican pa- 
pers that Democracy was treason. If it is, he said, it will be found treasonable 
by fifty thousand majority next fall. The Democratic party was and is the onlv 
true war party in the country-. They had waiTed bravely and successfully against 
every wrong that had every been attempted by men in high places. And the 
question now comes up, whether the Democratic party should stand npon its an- 
cient platform, or whether we shall adopt the boasted jilatforra of this so-called 
Democratic war party ? We are not responsible that our principles were depart- 
ed from at the commencement of the war. 

The speaker alluded to the late political campaign in Connecticut, and ani- 
madverted upon the course of the Government that had sent 4.000 soldiers from 
the Potomac to vote for the Kepublicau candidate. But Mr. Seymour, then the 
Democratic candidate for Governor, had succeeded in obtaining such a firm hold 
upon the affections of the people as would secure a different result at a future 
time, and raise that defeated man to the right place in the public councils, one 
that his virtues and patriotism entitled him to fill. The Democratic party in the 
past had made the country great and glorious. The party now dominant had 
got into power, and we could all see the result. In regard to the conscription it 
was proposed to enable that party to perpetuate its pow.er. He hoped it would 
not attempt to enforce it. He, for himself, was not disposed to say what he 
would do were the attempt made to enforce it. But he sincerely hoped that no 
attempt would be made in New York to exercise so infamous a measure. The 
Republican party are just as much opposed to the war as they (the audience) 
were. They were compelled to sustain it by the despotism which has di-agged 
from his bed a son of Ohio, and that, too, to gratify the revenge of the Secretary 
of War [cheers. ] He (the Speaker) hoped that henceforth and forevermore, the 
people would put their feet upon this despotiein. He appealed to the audience 
to know if they would consent to send to the war their sons, to help to sustain 
this despotism [cries of no, no.] He concluded with an appeal to the audience 
to boldly express their sentiments in this crisis. His allusions to Mr. Lincoln 
and General Burnside were greeted with groans and other demonstrations of in- 
tense disapprobation. 



Speech of Mr. VAN ALLEN. 

The next speaker was the Hon. John J. Van Allen, of Schuyler County. He 

said : 

Gentlemen : When I cast my eyes over the broad acres, covered with iuteUi- 
gent upturned faces, my heart beats ^Wth satisfaction and pride, because it evi- 
dences the fact that there is yet remaining gome virtue in the American people. 



48 

[That's so ! and loud applause.] This is a most important and interesting occa- 
sion, as trivial as it may seem to some of the Editors of your city papers and those 
of the Republican Press throughout the State, who have so diligently labored 
to sneer it down, to bring it into disrepute, and to induce the public to believe 
this to be a mere factious gathering, insignificant in its proportions, and treason- 
able in its purposes. 

I wish here, to refute in the most emphatic terms, the imputation thus cast 
iipon us. We meet as freemen — citizens of the great State of New York, a sover- 
eign State of this Union — actuated only by motives of the most pure and lofty 
patriotism for a redress of grievances ; fearlessly to express our views in reference 
to the vital issues thrast upon us hj the destructive Abolition Party now in pow- 
er. We me^t as American freemen, feeling the importance of those issues at this 
time to ourbeloved country ; not to destroy, but to build up again upon its re- 
maining ruins. 

A most important period in our country's history dates from to-day, when, 
'midst the turmoil and strife of battle, this vast concourse of American freemen 
proclaim in one united voice that heaven-born sentiment so universally enter- 
tained by the honest thoughtful minds, throughout the length and breadth of 
this land, but which has heretofore so generally been stifled — Peace ! 

That voice will be expressed in accordance with, and mil give the most em- 
phatic utterance to the Address and Resolutions which have just been read inside 
of Cooper Institute, iinanimouslj^ adoj^ted by the vast concourse of patriotic free- 
men there congregated, which will be published in your city journals, and which 
you will have the pleasure and satisfaction of reading at your leisure. 

That Address and those Resolutions bring you back to first principles, such as 
were inculcated and enunciated by the fathers of this Republic, who were the 
fathers of the Democratic Partj'. (Cheers. ) It was upon those princijoles our 
Government was founded, and from which it derived its -vitality, dispensing its 
blessings in peace and love, on all — both rich and poor — alike. This Govern- 
ment was established for a single purpose, by those who made ;it. It was de- 
signed to protect the people, from whom it derives all its power and vitality, in 
the rights of th«ir persons and property. 

It is an aggregation or congregation of the States, for that pui-pose, and for 
that alone. A Constitution was framed by delegates elected by the people of the 
several States, in their sovereign capacity, giving to those branches composing 
the Government — the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary — all the powers they 
possess. This was conceded and given by the framers of that Constitution, and 
was sixbsequently ratified by the several States, as sovereign States, acceding to 
it and joining together in the compact. But, gentlemen, if you look look at that 
instrument you will look in vain for any authority or power existing in any or 
all the branches of the Government combhaed to compel a State by force, to r©- 
m\ni in the Union one momant longer than of its own volition, it sees fit to re- 
main. 

If uny power legally exists it must be specially granted in and by that instru- 
ments, as it is therein provided, that all powers not specially delegated to the 
United States, nor iDrohibited to the States, are reserved to the States respective- 
ly or to the i^eoi^le. 

I am fally aware that we will be bitterly assailed by the mad fanatics in the in- 
terest of the corrupt Administration at Washington, for this free, and honest ex- 
pression of our views, and by them denounced as secessionists ; for they have no 
regard for the constitution nor for any law, either human or divine, if it con- 
flicts in the least with their destructive views or designs. (Applause. 

I am no secessionist! I have always been most ardently devoted to the Union 
of these States. It is not necessary for me to go to Utica with the Abolition Loyal- 
Leagues to swear to support the Constitution, because I breathed that inspiration 
when I was born, and took the oath at my mother's breast. [Loud Cheers. ] I 
have since kept it and intend to maintain it in the future, as in the past inviolate. 
I here defy any one, be he Republican or Democrat, to show me a single letter 
in that Constitution to compel a State to remain in the Union against the will of 
its people. (Cheers. ) 

The Address and Resolutions adopted by this vast assemblage of people here 
to-day, simply reiterates the time honored principles of the Democratic Party, 
uniformly enunciated, and made cardinal throughout its whole brilhant career, 
up to the very moment this terrilile reign of blood was inaugurated by the pow- 
ers that be. In proof of this I will ask you to look back to the month of January, 
18G1, when a large and most intelligent convention of people from every part of 



49 

this state, assembled at Tweedle Hall in Albany, for the purpose of expressing 
their views iu reference to the then state of the country ; devising means to avert 
the impending storm then gathering, and giving such counsel to the powers that 
were about to assume the control of the Government as would enable them, if 
heeded, to so steer the ship of State as to avoid the threatened wreck and ruin 
their mad policy had devised. 

These principles were fully enunciated at that Convention, and our present no- 
ble and patriotic Governor, Horatio Seymour, then and there made a speech, in 
which these principles were fully recognized ; many other patriotic voices were 
raised in their vindication, and the Convention was unanimously opposed to the 
bloody and revolutionary docU'ine of coercion, which has since bfrthed our be- 
loved country in blood. [Enthusiastic and ]5rotracted cheering. ] 

Although our llejiublican friends will call this Address and these Resolutions 
treasonable ; although they will say we are a band of Copperheads and ought to 
be hung ; (derisive cheers) yet, if they will examine the record of the Democratic 
Party, i)revious to the commencement of this fratricidal war, they will find that 
no new dogma has been incorporated into our creed, but that we are merely re- 
citing the lessons taught us in our infancy and inculcated in our rii>er years. De- 
mocracy as.sumes no chamelion hues, for its principles are founded on the rock of 
truth, and are eternal ; whilst those of our adversaries have the quicksands of er- 
ror for their foundation, and are ever changing. [Cheers. ] These thimble-rig- 
ging opponents of ours are most fruitful in expedients. They were always loud- 
mouthed iu shrieking for freedom — when freedom was not in danger — most vocif- 
erous in their demands for the freedom of speech, and of the Press, when neither 
was attempted to be muzzled, but had the largest License. Were they sincere in 
this ? Let their bastiles, suppressions, arbitrary arrests, mobs and brutal con- 
duct generally since they came in power, answer. 

I see by the jiapers that one of Lincoln's shoulder-strapped pets, a General, 
and present United States Senator from that demagogue-ridden State, Kansas, by 
the name of Jim Lane, recently made a .speech at Rochester, in which he .says the 
people of this State ought to suppress this meeting. [Loud cries — "Ho can't do 
it !"] he says that they ought not to allow the people of this great State to assem- 
ble and express their views upon this important occasion ; that they are a pack 
of Copperheads and ought to be hung by niggers ! All that I have to say to such 
rowdies as this Lane is, that I believe the people of this State will congregate 
whenever and wherever they choose, will discuss such questions as they deem 
proper, and will neither ask Abraham Lincoln nor any of his shoulder-strapped 
satraps for permission so to do. [Cheers. ] 

These are remarkable times when the people of a sovereign State have so de- 
based themselves that they will elect to the United States Senate a map who will 
thus perjure himself before the whole people, by taking an oath upon the Holy 
Evangelist, that he will support the Constitution of the United States, and who 
will thus publicly so far violate it as to counsel disrespect for the laws and to en- 
courage a riot to suppress a Democratic meeting, lawfully and peacefully assem- 
bled for a redress of grievances. 

But this demoniac .spirit thus manifested is not confined to this reckless fiend, 
Jim Lane. It has mamfeste<r itself throughout every dejiartment controled by 
this tyrannical government of Abraiiam Lincoln. Burnside has most signally 
distinguished himself by the assumption of power never delegated to him, by 
outraging and oj^pressing the gallant Democracy of the west. (Hisses for Bum- 
side. ) Only yesterday he issued an order that the Chicago Times, one of the 
most able and patriotic papers publi.shed in the United States, be suppressed 
from and after that date, threatening its gallant Editor that in case he sees fit to 
issue his sheet again, he will be arrested and incarcerated in a prison, and the 
military under his command, who were enlisted for the ostensible purpose of re- 
storing the Union and maintaining the Constitution inviolate, are now at this 
moment actually engaged by no f olition of their own, but by the order of this 
infamous, brainless tyrant in the execution of this detestable, lawless and revolu- 
tionaiy order. 

The freemen of Chicago have called a meeting to-night, for the purpose of ex- 
jiressing their views upon that question, and for the purpose of counseling with 
Burnside and his shoulder-strapped satellites, as to whether they can carry out 
their damnable iDUiiiose in thus stifling tlie voice of the people, and stiiking down 
the freedom of the jiress. And, I tell you when the freemen of Illinois get to- 
gether, and when the President hears their voice sweUiug up in defence of ci^il 
liberty and civil rights, when he understands that m tbia yast assemblage of in- 

4 



50 

telligent uptiimed faces here to-day, there is but one sentiment beaming expres- 
sive of that of the honest freemen, iinbound by political prejudices and interests 
everywhere, he (the President) will hud himself standing at the moiith of a 
volcano ready to swallow him np, and before he takes a plunge in the yawning 
crater, ^^^ll st()p to inquire whether it is not necessary to take some new reckon- 
ing, and ascertain whether the American people are disposed to quietly surren- 
der their rights, and continue to submit to such extraordinarj' assumption of 
power. 

The President I believe thinks you are simply sheep, that yon have no rights 
that he is bound to i-espect, and whatever powers he sees fit to assiime. no matter 
how despotic or unwarranted, he will be sustained in assuming by the people. 
Why, my friends, when this war broke out, the pepple did not stop to inquire 
whether the people of the North, or those of the South were in fault ; they did 
not stop to fix the fearful responsibility of it where it belongs and where history 
will most surely place it — upon the shoulders of the Abolition Republican Party 
of the North ; but it was alleged that our dear old flag, that emblem of liberty, 
given us by our fathers had been insulted, and there was that spirit of patriotism 
which has ever animated that noble old party, which sprang to its vindication. 
That banner they had ever borne aloft triumphantly from the birth of the Democ- 
racy in this republic, until that time, unpolhited by dishonor. They knew that^ 
under its broad and ample folds the germ of constitutional hberty had been 
planted by their fathers, and had grown stalwart and strong. 

It was for their love of constitutional liberty, their institutions and the memory 
of their fathers, which overshadowed all other considerations, that impelled them 
to resort to arms. However much we may now regret the rashness of this course 
we can but admire the patriotic motive that took possession of their minds, and 
nerved their arms. They did not then stop to weigh the consequences, being 
actuated by the noble motives and considerations I have mentioned, but when 
they saw that the war was being waged by those in authority, with no design to 
restore the Union, when they saw that it was an Abolition cnisade, designed for 
the mere purpose of casting out upon the world to fill our prisons and poor 
houses, 4,000,000 dirty negroes, the people began to look over the ground and 
ascertain where they were drifting. They foiind that whilst the war was pro- 
gressing, whilst they were pouring out their blood and treasure, and the Con- 
stitiition was but little thought of, there was an attempt on the part of this ac- 
cursed administration, upon the part of this man who in order to nick name they 
called "honest Old Abe," but who has proved himself one of the most dishonest 
old villains that ever had power — -to destroy the liberties of the people. (A voice 
— He, the President, is an old weathercock ! Another voice^You ought to pity 
him ! ) When Lincoln imprisoned one after another of your citizens in the Fort 
in your harbor, you rested with your hands folded on your breast, and thought 
it a military necessity ; and when he suppressed one of the noblest papers in 
your city, one which we should love and respect for its honest out-spoken expres- 
sion of the truth — the New York Daily News — (immense cheering) — you still 
rested with your arms folded patiently thinking it of but short duration. When 
you saw other journals in your city and State, the Editors of which had too much 
honor and integrity to be bribed, cajoled or bullied into the supjaort of the mad 
and destructive policy of this corrupt administration, suppressed and the Edi- 
tors incarcerated in a Bastile, jow still rested. When mobs were instigated by 
the AVashington authorities against your citizens, and encouraged by their dia- 
bolical pi'esses, you still' thought it was the excitement of the moment, and would 
exist only temporarily, but you found this Administration was like a leech — it 
was crying give ! give ! ! and the stoic indifference you manifested only served 
as an encouragement for their atrocities. I here deliberately charge upon this 
administration the secret design to estabhsh upon the ruins of this Republic 
Military Despotism, and, furthermore, unless you arise in your right and maje * 
ty ; Tinless you hurl back this monster ; unless by every constitutional means i*^" 
your power, you resist this deejD laid and treasonable effort against your liber^ 
ties, you will soon find a federal bayonet at every door, your? ielf bound hand and" 
foot, and your mouths gagged. (Cheers, No ! Never ! ) Yo u must stand up an d 
assert fearlessly your principles or your liberties are lost. ' ' Eternal vigilance is 
the price of liberty." 

The charge I here make may seem violent, but I believe as fii-mly as I believe 
I stand before you a living man, at this moment, that it is as trite as divine 
inspiration. Were I attempting to deceive you in resi jcct to a question of such 
vital importance, I would deserve to b,e hurled ignomi j^iously from this platform. 



51 

The sentiment comes from an honest heart, and I have the evidence upon which 
to base the verdict I have formed. 

The good Book says " by their fruits shall ye know them." Where this ad- 
ministration has the power, and where the people have been under their control 
what has been its course towards them ? Look if you please at down-trodden 
Maryland. Look at the city of Baltimore. Was not Maryland once a sovereign 
State like your own? Do you not love the Marylanders and esteem them as your 
brethren and equals ? Do you not believe its citizens to be honest, patriotic and 
imbued with that deep love of liberty and justice which has so long bound to- 
gether the union of these States ? (yes ! yes ! ) But, gentlemen, they have been 
robbed of their rights and plundered of their liberties by the Satanic band of in- 
vaders who pollute the soil of that noble old State by their presence. No honest 
Democrat dare go to Maryland to-day and express the honest patriotic sentiments 
of his heart. (A voice— That's so !) If he should there raise his voice in defence 
of civil liberty, in vindication of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to the 
citizen, from the least to the greatest, he would be arrested and incarcerated in a 
prison or else exiled into the Southern confederacy. 

Look at this ! The ballot box is invaded, and every civil right that belongs to 

a citizen, is wrested from the American freemen, whose lot is cast in that once 

sovereign State, but now oppressed by the usurpations of power placed in the 

hands of the black-hearted demagogue, Schenck, who lords it over those whose 

. shoes he is not worthy to unloose. 

One of the best and most patriotic men residing in the city of Baltimore, in a 
conversation with mo a few days ago, after reciting acts of the most cruel and 
despotic character practiced upon feeble women and defenseless children by thia 
tyrant Schenck, said to me — " Why, sir, it would be as much as my life is worth, 
were I to go to the polls in Baltimore and vote a Democratic ticket, or any other 
than that of the destructive Abolition party," and he further stated that, although 
he was a large property holder in Baltimore, and paid heavy taxes, yet he had not 
voted in two years. In this city of Baltimore, before this reign of terror was in- 
augurated they were in the habit of polling about 27,000 votes. They had an 
election there, a few days ago, and only polled about 4,500 votes. WTiat does 
this mean, if not one act in the terrible drama of the Administration ? [A voice 
— It means coercion. ] It means that none, but the supple-cornipt tools of des- 
potism there, dare go to the polls and exercise a freeman's right to elect such rul- 
ers as will best subserve the interests of the tax-payers, and administer the gov- 
ernment of that great city. 

The same condition of affairs exists in St. Louis. . At an election held there a 
short time ago, for local officers, they elected the whole red-mouthed Abolition 
ticket, under the name of "Eadical Kepublican." Do you believe St. Louis, 
when left to its own free volition, to be an Abolition city? [Cries — No! No!] 
Most assuredly not. The very sentiment is hateful and repulsive to those having 
the welfare of that beautiful city at heart. Then why is it that they elect Aboli- 
tion officers in St. Louis? [Greenbacks did it!] It is, my friends, because of 
this accursed Administration holding those men in terrortim ; shooting her citi- 
zens like dogs in the street, filching from them every civil right, and a ruthless 
soldiery standing with a bayonet pointed at every honest heart, and thus deter- 
ring them at the ballot box, from an expression of their true sentiments. 

'The same state of affairs exists in Kentucky, Tennessee, and in every other 
State, where they dare exercise such high-handed, despotic acts. Not a day 
passes but what miscreants, who are clothed with a little brief authority, there 
"play such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make the angels weep." Their 
spies and informers swarm like the Egyi^tian toads, infesting every sanctuary and 
polluting every spot with their foul presence. No one, even be he clothed with 
the purity of an angel from heaven, is safe from their machinations, unless he 
sees fit to so far disgrace himself and dishonor his name as to don the dirty garb 
of AboUtionism. 

A few days since, seventy-five thousand lion-hearted and noble Democratic 
freemen of our sister State, Indiana, met at Indianapolis, the capital of that great 
State, for the purpose of free discussion, as we have met to-day, to assei-t their 
constitutional rights, and to proclaim the principles of their fathers, who so 
dearly earned the liberties they had transmitted to their charge. Upon thus as- 
sembling lor this noble purpose they were confronted by two regiments of Abe 
Lincoln's minions with loaded muskets, a squad of cavalry and several pieces of 
artillery pointing towards the place of assemblage. 

For what purpose was aU this display of •' the pomp and oireumstance of •war ?" 



S2 

Why, for the purpose of breaking up that Democratic meeting ; but thanks to the 
firmness of that noble band of freemen, the effort did not succeed. It proved to 
be too big a thing to suppress,- and they wisely concluded that ' ' discretion was 
the better part of valor," and confined their efforts to insulting individual mem- 
bers who were in attendance after the meeting had dispersed. (Laughter. ) I 
might cite instances of this character by the hour, and mi\ltiply evidence to an 
indefinite extent, in proof of the diabolical i^lot instigated and put on foot by this 
detestable Administration to rob the people of this country of their liberties. 
Enough testimony, in my judgment, has already been adduced for the purpose of 
proving what this Administration -will do unless you arise in your sovereign 
strength and proclaim, as if " from the hoiise-top, " that you wall not submit to 
have your liberties destroyed. (Loud cries — Never !) 

Yes ! gentlemen, evidence is daily multiplying in proof of the intention of this 
Abolition Adminstration, provided the people 'ndll submit to it, to establish upon 
the ruins of this free Eepublic a Military Despotism ; but, thank God, I believe 
there are enough noble hearts, strong arms, integrity and virtue enough left yet 
in the American people to resist any such attempt. (That so ! and loud ap- 
plause. ] You never will allow this Administration to take possession of your 
ballot-box and compel you to vote the Republican ticket, or none at all. No, 
gentlemen, you never will submit to such degradation and you ought not. "Re- 
sistance to tyrants is obedience to God." When the crisis comes, if come it must, 
there will be foiind brawny hands and stalwart arms nerved by strong hearts, im- 
bued with a deep-seated love of liberty that will arise in its defense and beat back 
its enemies in confusion. (Loud applause. ) 

If it is not the settled piirpose of this Administration to establish a Military 
Despotism, why was the lion-hearted patriot Vallandigham — CThio's favorite son 
(Thr^e cheers for Vallandigham^ dragged from his bed and the bosom of his 
family by one of Lincoln's mobs, in soldiers' da-ess bought by your 
money and mine, siabjected to a mock trial against his most earnest protest, 
by a tribunal having no jurisdiction over him — another military mob, and ban- 
ished, against his will, to a foreign State amongst his public enemies ? What 
was the cause of this persecution ? It was because he loved his country and its 
people, more than he loved power and the unclean drippings from the table of 
this detestable Administration. Because he had the sagacity to comprehend the 
danger, and the integrity and heart to expose it to the people, into which the in- 
sane policy of this Administration was plunging the ship of State. He saw the 
torch of the incendiary being ', ai^plied to the temple of liberty, and his eloquent 
voice sounded the note of alarm to the people, whose interests he regarded dearer 
than life itself. It was because he addressed a democratic audience of his neigh- 
bors and friends, in which he took occasion to "\andicate the great jninciples of 
Democracy and Constitutional liberty, and whilst so doing, in temperate and re- 
spectfiil language to criticise the despotic measures of his Republican opponents 
in terms more temperate than I have here before you to-day, done the same 
thing. There were there, on that occasion, to their eternal shame and disgrace, 
be it said, emissaries of despotism, certain of Lincoln's flunkies, calling them- 
selves soldiers, but a disgrace to that profession, men who had been enlisted for 
the ostensible purpose of vindicating the laws, but who had sold their birthright 
of American freemen for less than a iness of pottage as spies and informers to 
catch, with their long ears, some detached word or sentence which, by perjury 
and falsehood, could be construed into some excuse for the dark plot ibrmed to 
subvert and over-ride the laws, and to add new fuel to the flame, fanaticism had 
already kindled, and which was fast consuming the liberties we so dearly 
prize. 

While we condemn — yes — execrate the instruments used by Lincoln to carry 
out such infamous designs, we must place the Imrthen of the gxiilt upon his 
shoulders, as he stands in the attitude of a principal, ratifjang and confirming 
the acts of his agents, and thus making them his own. Because the American 
people have so long submitted patiently to these iinwarranted assumptions of 
power, this doubly accursed Administration wishes to see how much the people 
^vill bear. I wish to give Abraham Lincoln and his satellites warning that there 
was once a certain animal — a camel — so heavily laden that even the additional 
weight of a feather broke his back. Thiis it will be with the American people. 
They will bear and forbear, long and patiently, but there is a point beyond which 
"forbearance ceases to be a virtue," and so long as there is an honest Democrat 
in the land, the Administration will never be allowed to plunder them of their 
liberties and bind them in the chains of a military despotism, 



53 

The charter of our liberties gives to Lincoln all the rights and all the powers 
he possesses ; the Constitution was made for all time, for a time of war, as well 
as a time of peace. (Cheers.) It was nursed into life })y patriot hands for our 
protection, and handed down to us as a legacy dearly bought by martyr's blood, 
to be preserved for those who are to come after us for all time. Let us preserve it, 
at any cost, in letter and spirit inviolate and strike down the hand raised for its de- 
struction. (Cheers. ) I believe we shall yet succeed in restoring ourselves, in 
putting out of power these despots, this Abolition tribe of destroyers that have 
got possession of this country and are sucking out its life-blood. 

I beheve we shall rid ourselves of this plague that is so severely afflicting the 
country, and our people will again elect such rulers as will administer the Gov- 
ernment in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. When we do 
that, we will return to the time honored principles for which we are contending. 
The Democratic is, and ever has been the law-abiding party. We have ever con- 
tended for a faithful obedience to the Constitution and laws, by our rulers as weU 
as our citizens. We are not in favor of mob law ; we are not in favor of destroy- 
ing, but always were vigorously in favor of building up. The Abolitionists have 
torn down this great nation, and nearly robbed you of your liberties. Their 
Whole course has been marked by mob violence, corruption, disregard for law, 
oppression and ruin. Destruction has characterized their whole history. They 
have no power to build up, but great aT)ility to destroj'. Their party was con- 
ceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity. 

The beautiful jDrairies of Kansas tasted the first fruits of their bloody doctrine 
of revolution. Their Sharp's Rifle argument there was followed by their emis- 
sary John BroTvn into Virginia, and thus step by step they have inaugurated a 
reign of blood in which our whole nation is now being bathed. Let us raise our 
voices against the criminal madness of their career. 

If you allow such renegades as James T. B^'ady and John Tan Biiren to mis- 
rei)resent you, without entering your most solemn protest against it — if yon per- 
mit those demagogues to tell the Administration, and proclaim to the world that 
you are in favor of a vigorous prosecution of this infamous war, and that you de- 
sire to have that most despotic measure ever attempted to be inflicted upon a free 
people, the high-handed and unconstitutional Conscription Bill j^ut in force ; if 
you do not vigorously hurl back those lies in the teeth of the cowardly flunkies 
who have uttered them, this reign of blood and desolation vnll be continued. 
Let us, from this time forth, sound the truth in the ears of the Administration. 
Let us declare the true sentiment of the people and shout in thunder tones the 
cry of Peace ! Peace ! ! until our cry is heeded. Let us place ourselves right 
upon the record, and proclaim to the world that we are opposed to this unholy 
war ; that we believe it to be destructive to our best interests, prosecuted with- 
out warrant of law, and, if long continued, wiU be productive of anarchy and de- 
struction throughout the length and breadth of our land. 

Let the cry we have raised to-day go up from every patriotic heart. In my 
judgment, when Lincoln finds that the sentiment of the jieople is against him, 
he will abandon the mad policy of "no compromise ;" he will, however, unwil- 
lingly stop in his mad career and ofi"er terms of concihation and compromise ; 
but, gentlemen, allow these dirt eaters claiming to be Democrats who "have 
clothed themselves in the livery of heaven to serve the devil in," to thus misrep- 
resent yoii, without raising your voice in vindication of your true sentiments, 
and the war will be prosecuted, the carnival of blood will be continued so long as 
there is a power press to make a Greenback, or a Democratic life to be sacrificed 
upon the altar of ambition. Depend upon it the people vrill raise such a shout, 
from this time forth, in the ears of the Administration as %\'iU cause them to be 
heard and heeded. We here, to-day, ofl"er a feasible plan by our resolutions 
whereby this whole difficulty may be honorably settled. We propose a suspen- 
sion of hostilities between the contending armies of the divided sections of our 
country, and that a Convention of the States composing the Confederate States, 
and a separate Convention of the States still adhering to the Union, be held, to 
determine in what manner and by what mode the contending sections shall be 
reconciled. If this proposition is oflercd by and on the part of the Adniinistra- 
tion it will most certainly be accepted. Can any one say, honestlj--, that it is not 
fair? It simply in efl'ect proposes a submission of the whole matter to the peo- 
ple, in whom all power rightfully rests. The matter is safe in their hands, and 
let us hope and pray that the Administration wiU refer it to them for their arbi- 
trament. 

I know, gentlemen, we shall be bitterly assailed because we here to-day pfo- 



pose terms of conciliation and compromise. Fat contractors, shoulder-strapped 
officers and the thousands of camp followers who are gorging themselves with 
the blood of their country, will howl against us. The interested speculator and 
crazy fanatics will join in the chorus ; but despite their clamor, the honest peo- 
ple, who are the most deeply interested in the welfare of their country, wiU en- 
dorse our efforts and will sustain us. 

No great measure, however just or meritorious, was ever yet put forward with- 
out being assailed. Even Christ, when upon earth, was persecuted, sorely perse- 
cuted because of the great truths he taught. His cause was finally vindicated, 
and I firmly believe that those who inaugurated this movement to-day, will be 
blest by unborn generations. Our enemies are busily at work in their endeavors 
to misrepresent our object, and to disparage and paralyze our efforts. Amongst 
their machinations they have industriously circulated the idea that the object of 
this vast assemblage is inimical to the interests of and designed to embarrass his 
Excellency, Horatio Seymour, the Governor of the State of New York. [Cheers 
for Governor Seymour. ] I wish here, most emphatically, to deny the charge. 
What caiise have we for making an issue with him ? Was he not our chosen 
leader in the last fall campaign, and did we not, with his name upon our banner, 
meet the serried hosts of despotism in their stronghold and rout them "horse, 
foot and dragoons ?" Did not his eloquent voice sound upon every hill-top and 
through all the valleys of this great State iu defense of civil liberty during that 
campaign ? Has he not performed his most arduous and delicate duties honest- 
ly, faithfully and with great ability since his election ? Has he not spoken the 
words of a patriot whenever he has spoken at all? Has any citizen of this State 
been confined in any Bastile since Governor Seymour was elected, or has the writ 
of Habeas Corpus, the great -wa-it of right and liberty been suspended by King 
Abraham in this State ? [No ! No ! ] No, gentlemen, the President has not dared 
to do it, and should he attempt such an unwarrantable assumption of power, 
Governor Seymour has the courage to resist it, even if necessary to call out the 
whole force of the State Militia for that purpose, and in that event, if arms can- 
not be procured suitable to equip them, they will, like our forefathers of old, be 
armed with pitchforks and hickory clubs. When called oiit for that purpose, you 
may count upon me as being one of them. We have no cause of complaint against 
Governor Seymour, but great cause to feel grateful to him. Had his opponent, 
Wadsworth, been elected, do you suppose we would have been allowed to meet 
here to-day for free discussion ? [No ! No ! ] It is because Seymour is Governor 
that we have not to-day our liberties trampled under foot in the Empire State, 
and are not subjected to the slavish bondage our patriotic brethi-en are now groan- 
ing under in the great West. 

Let us, gentlemen, as Democrats stand united, presenting an unbroken front 
to the enemy, making no unnecessai-y issues that may tend to distract or divide 
our party. Let us be placed in our proper position before the world ; be ti-ue to 
ourselves, and thus marshal our united hos^s to victory. In this lies our only 
hope of escape fi-om despotism. Let all personal considerations be lost sight 
of, and, as patriots, devote our united efforts earnestly to the rescue of our be- 
loved countiy from the vandal hands that are pressing out its life blood. Enough 
yet remains, whereof Democracy may build from the ruins, anew, the temple of 
liberty, for the enjoyment of ourselves and those who come after us, when wa 
have passed away. (Cheers. ) 

In conclusion, gentlemen, (Cries — go on! goon!!) I have to say that the 
continuance of the war can never restore the Union. The idea of restoring the 
Union by fighting is so preposterous as to cause a'stonishment in the mind of 
any sane man, that any person of ordinary intelligence could be sincere in the ex- 
pression of such a thought. It is both morally and physically impossible. 

Why look for a moment at the absurdity of the proposition? Suppose our, 
armies are victorious in the field. Look at the degrees of latitude and longitnde 
necessary to be traversed and subdued by arms. Every hamlet and village would 
have to be held by military force ; a bayonet would |,have to be placed at every 
door, and the whole country, for all time, converted into a military camp. This 
mad project would necessitate a standing army greater than that of any power 
upon earth. The history of this war has fully proved the truth of the assertioa 
of the lamented Douglass, when he said that war was eternal disunion. Good 
Bense fully justifies the assertion made by Hon. W. H. Seward, the present Sec- 
retary of State, when he said " The Union upheld by force is a despotism." I re- 
peat the assertion of Seward here, and that the proposition of war to restore the 
Union, even if succesaful, inTolyes the startling and revolutionary measure of a 



55 

Military Despotism, an abandonment of constitutional law and the rights of the 
people to be subject to the will of a niilitarj' commander. 

This is the feast to M'hich you are invited by the advocates of war. I want no 
such Union. Better that tliis country be divided into ten, yes, a hundi-ed parts, 
rather than any portion of its people be subjec^ted to such indignities. Our only 
hope of a restoration is by and through peaceful means. No one lives who has a 
more ardent love for his country — the Union of these States as our fathers gave it 
us, than I. Could such a Union be restored— a Union boTind together by the silken 
cord of atfection I would deem no sacrifice too great for its accomplishment, I say 
here to-day, standing before the Great White Throne of my God, to whom I ac- 
knowledge my accountability for every word and thought I utter and entei-tain, 
that however dear my life is to me, I would cheerfully, at any momeut,ofier it up 
as a willing sacrifice, if, by so doing, my blood would cement the affections of the 
people and restore the Union upon its original and legitimate basis. Ko other 
than a Union of affection, maintained in the spirit in which it was made, is desir- 
able . The war is desolating our land. There is scarcely a household but has some 
chair made vacant by its ravages. The juggernaut of destruction is daily crush- 
ing its thousands of hearts, and filling the land with new made graves, lamenta- 
tion and woe. 

Let us entreat the powers that be to stay their bloody hands, to cease the de- 
vastation in which they are engaged, to hiish for the moment the hoarse notes of 
war, and make one effort at least for the attainment of peace. Let a proposition 
be made, thi'ough Commissioners, during the lull of battle, to the Confederate 
Government, to arrange for a Convention of delegates to be elected by the peo- 
ple. Let us, from this time forth, meet in Conventions and press this con.sidera- 
tion home to the ears of the , Administration. The material interests of this 
country are being prostrated, although everything looks here, at present, pros- 
perous and happy. This prosperity is ephemeral and will be succeeded, if the 
war is long continued, by the dark night of adversity. The enormous expenses 
being incurred by it are to be paid by the toil and sweat of the poor laboring 
men of the "country. Already you pay an enormous tax for every sip of tea you 
drink and almost everything you eat. You are not taxed according to your ability 
to pay, but only because of your necessities. Kuin stares you in the face, unless 
some plan is adopted wherebj' the people of this distracted countrj' may again 
live in peace. Thefl let the crj' go up from every hill, valley, mountain and plain, 
in this great country, for peace. If successful in our divine mission let us, Uke 
patriots under the aegis of the Constitution, re-construct from the ruins, and 
again regenerate, win back the respect of the world lost by the disgraceful con- 
duct of our people in the prosecution of this suicidal wai-. 

Mr. Van Allen was much applauded throughout the course of this eloquent ad- 
dress. 



Speech of Mr. ISAAC COLEMAK. 

Mr. Coleman was introduced and said : 

We have met together to discuss the question whether we shall have war or peacS. 
Before entering upon the discussion it would be well to know the reason why we are 
fighting. To come at this he would tell a little story ; it was about one John Bull, 
who was very wealthy and powerful, and had a numerous family, among whom was 
one Jonathan. The cause of Bull's great success was that he set up branch estab- 
lishments in different parts of the world. To Jonathan he said, " You go to Ameri- 
ca," and Joaathau, nothing loth, came over here, and the first place lie landed was 
upon Plymouth Rock. Before he left his native land, Jonathan had stipulated with 
Mr. Bull that he would give him the principal part of his profits derived from his 
earnings, and, for a considerable time, he did so. Among other things stipulated 
between John and Jonathan was that the latter should buy all his goods of the 
former. But, after a time, Jonathan's family grew numerous, and they objected to 
the arrangement that had been made, and they claimed all the profits that resulted 
from their own industry and enterprize. This led to a quarrel, that in course of 



56 

time grew into a fight. But it was unnedessary to follow the story to its natural se- 
quence, everybody knew it. John Bull got whipped. Jonathan r.hus became free and 
independent and he courted Miss Virginia. She was rich and lovely, and agreed to 
unite with Jonathan upon condition that she should retain the right to manage her 
own domestic atfairs, control her house-hold and her men and her maid servants. 
This was agreed to, and the Union was made. Subsequently Miss Carolina and a 
number of her sisters wished to make Union with Jonathan upon the same terms, 
which were likewise agreed to. By and by Jonathan grew proud^v. powerful and 
wealthy, like his progenitor, and he attempted an interference with Miss Virginia and 
her sisters, and determined to control their men and maid servants, and otherwise in- 
terfere with the domestic arrangements and violate the compact. He did not do this 
himself, but he sent a man named John Brown to do it. Brown was hung, but Jona- 
than did not desist but said to these sisters, unless you let me manage your afi'airs I 
will fight you, and in this determination some of Jonathan's Northern friends backed 
him up. Others said we can't let this Union be broken up, and the question came up 
for trial before the people as the jury. We are to decide whether we are to have war 
or peace, whether the original compacts are to be kept, or whether we are to have war 
and disunion. The speaker continued for sometime to illustrate his argument with 
anecdotes, to the great amusement of the assemblage, and concluded by putting the 
question whether we should maintain the Union and our own liberty or not. In re- 
sponse, a rousing affirmative was made, and the retiring speaker was greeted with- 
cheers. 



Dr. Phelps was then introduced. He thanked the audience for the kind man- 
ner in which he had been received, and said that he came before them not so 
mtich for speech as for action. He did not indorse every sentiment that had 
been said or might be said hereafter, but he came for his rights and free speech. 
He woidd speak his mind on all occasions, no matter what the consequences. In 
this crisis, when all war measures have failed, it was time we should raise our 
voices for something like a cessation of hostilities. [Loud cheers. ] What do we 
expect to realize by this war? Do we expect to subjugate the South? [No, no.] 
Abraham Lincoln has said that we must keep pegging at them. He did not 
think so. That was not the "way to conduct this war. The speaker then told 'an 
anecdote. An army chaplain said that the war would be successful — because oiu- 
generals were praying men. The jierson to whom the chaplain was conversing 
said, that he did not know about that. He had heard that Lincoln was a praying 
man ; but, if so, he thought that God would think that he was joking if he did 
pray ; he was so fond of telling stories. [Laughter.] The speaker related sev- 
eral other anecdotes which kept his audience in a very cheerful mood. Among 
others he likened Beecher and Greeley to the men who were urging another on 
to attack a black cow. Beecher had urged Lincoln on ixntil he had got tired and 
had gone out of the country. He hoped that Greeley too would soon follow his 
example. The speaker's reference to the conscription elicited responses from the 
audience in the highest degree of opposition to that measure. During his speech 
allusions to Lincoln were greeted with expressive groans. 

Mr. McSweeney was the next speaker, but it was impossible to report him ow 
ing to the absence of light. 

Captain Isaiah Kynders was then introduced and spoke in substance as fol_ 
lows : 

• Speech of ISAIAH RYNDERS. 

When I last addressed you (he said), it was as the liege subjects of King Abra- 
ham. He would now address them as fellow-citizens. But for the fact that he 
deemed it a duty that every effort should be made at this time to guard well our 
liberties, he would not more intrude himself upon them. He was not going to speak 
to them in the phrase of politicians. But he asked that the Democrats shall be per- 
mitted to decide the great issues of the State of New York. He would have no lot or 
part with any who would divide the Democratic party, and the man who would do it, 
would be more execrated than was Nero himself. He wished to say that he was as- 



57 

tonished at the great patience of the people of this country. He ■was ready at any 
time to fight for the integrity of the Government, but not to violate the rights of the 
people, or support those who would trample on the Constitution. Jle would not go 
■with or for such a party. In reference to Mr. Vallandigliain. he would like to ask 
Abe Lincoln if he hadn't got to ask some one else if he has the power to expatriate a 
citizen. He would not find fault if it was done by law ; but to try him by a drum- 
head Court-Martial under Burnside, who did not dare at the head of 100,000 men to 
fight Stonewall Jackson. — But he did dare at the dead of night to break in upon Val- 
landigham and arrest him with twenty soldiers with bayonets. But no blood was 
shed, and Uncle Abe said when he heard it, " no body was hurt." He then alluded 
to the consequences of this state of things, if it was allowed to continue, and warned 
his audience that it would lead to a serfdom worse than tliat ojf any despotism. His 
allusions to the Loyal League were received with groans by the audience; and, in 
his felicitous manner, he portrayed the dangers which beset the people by too blindly 
following the dictates of such fanatical leaders as endeavor to rulc^ the League and 
kindred associations. He proclaimed himself anew a Democrat, in favor of the lib- 
erty of speech, of the press, and of the people. His address was received with enthu- 
siasm, and he was frequently interrupted with cheers. 

The Hon. Fernando Wood was then introduced, and was received with intense en- 
thusiasm. His full speech is reported elsewhere. 



Speech of J. C. GROBEL. 

Judge Grobel, of New Brunswick, was the next speaker introduced. He said that 
although he was 63 years of age, he had never before seen such a meeting as that of 
the present occasion. Aud when he considei'cd how we had fallen upon perilous 
times, it was indeed gratifying to see such an assemblage gathered to uphold their 
rights and liberties. He would like to draw the attention of his hearers to a con- 
sideration of what military despotism had done for us. He then spoke at some length 
of some of the effects and consequences of the war in which the country had been for 
two years engaged. We had lost moj;e than four hundred and fifty thousand men. 
four billions of treasure, and caused death and desolation to more than a quarter of 
the homes in the land. But were those who had caused all this fruitless evil satis- 
fied .' By no means, they still cried for more. We have gone on, and for two years 
borne all iu patient silence. And this silence has, to a certain extent, been received 
as an indorsement of the course of the Administration. The speaker reviewed the 
acts of the Executive, and declared that the President had been a perfect and wil- 
ling tool in the hands of designing men. The war from its very conception to the 
present time, he said, had been carried on by falsehood and deception, and whenever 
these failed, the most harsh and arbitrary means had been resorted to. How much 
longer, he would like to know, Avould the people bear such treatment .' How much 
longer tolerate the outrages that had been attempted upon their liberties .' He be- 
lieved the only object of the dominant party was to establi-sh a military despotism, 
and the cry of philanthropy and freedom for the black man was a mere pretext to 
deceive such as could be gained by no other means. The time had come when the 
American people must defend their liberties. They must do it by recourse to the 
Courts and the ballot-box, if possible, but if the former were corrupted, and the lat- 
ter taken from us, we are left no alternative but resistance by force. 

The proceedings at stand No. 4 were concluded by an able address by Wm. C. De- 
■witt, Esq., of Brooklyn, who spoke at length upon the destruction of State's rights 
and the unconstitutionality of coercion as a means of keeping States within tlie 
Union. He declared that the subjugation of the South was impossible. His address 
was warmly received. 

Soon after the speaking commenced, the throng at this stand gathered in large 
numbers, and during Mr. Van Allen's speech, filled the entire space, so that there 
■was scarcely room for the passage of the cars, which were the only vehicles permitted 
to run on Fourth avenue. Occasionally some individuals in the crowd would become 
too demonstrative in their enthusiasm, but the utmost good feeling prevailed notwith- 
standing. 



58 

The assemblage was occasionally enlivened by the presence and passage through it 
of clubs with bands of music, conspicuous among which, was the Democratic Associa • 
tion, of the Twenty-second Ward. When the Hon. Fernando Wood spolie, the masses 
were enthusiastic to such a degree, that for some moments, he was unable to pro- 
ceed. 

The whole affair at this stand passed oflF in the most agreeable and satisfactory man- 
ner. 

The arrangements were as perfect as it was in the power of the Committee to make 
them, and speakers and audience retired well pleased with the part each had taken 
in the demonstration. 



STAND NO. 5. 



This stand, which was devoted exclusivejy to the German speakei's, was, long be- 
fore 5 o'clock, crowded to its utmost capacity. At that hour the. German Democratic 
Central Club, of Brooklyn, preceded by a fine band, and bearing in their midst the 
banner of the Club, arrived on the ground. Wannemacher's Fifth Regiment Band 
was stationed on this stand, and enlivened the audience by a series of patriotic airs. 

At half-past five o'clock the Seventeenth Ward Club arrived, bearing a banner with 
the words "Seventeenth Ward Club" on one side, while on the other the words 
" Friede — Reunion" showed boldly out. 

The meeting was called to oi'der by Dr. Adolf Berckmann, President of the German 
Central Club, who nominated for Chairman Dr. Braeunlich, of Brooklyn, the man who 
in the old country and here had espoused the cause of liberty. This nomination was 
ratified. 

Speech of DR. BRAEUNLICH. 

On taking the Chair, Dr. Braeunlich thanked the audience for the honor bestowed 
upon him. He said they were assembled tor the sake of peace ; the war had cost 
thousands of lives, without attaining an5'thing. If to make peace was treason, the 
world would degenerate. There wei-© men assembled here wlio loved liberty, which 
liberty is now being trampled under the feet of the tyrant. There is a sickness called 
political insanity, as was in the times of the Crusaders. There is now insanity among 
tiie people, [applause] which must be treated Kke physical insanity. And the dis- 
eased patient must be deprived of dangerous weapons. [Applause.] There are cir- 
cumstances when the people must take care of themselves, [applause] and now was 
that time- 
Mr. F. R. Hartman read the following list of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries, which 
was adopted : 

VICE PEESIDENTS. 

Dr. John A. Stemmler, F. German, 

. Richter, Kings Co., Martin Mager, 

Daniel Catoir, George Maurer, 

Fr. liohbertz, C. Kronkel, 

Ph. Bender, St. Island, F. Repper, 

Mathias Gotzel, A. Schleicher, 

George Rothman, Wm. H. Knoepfel, i 

Chr. Bendinger, A. Rhens, 

Charles Mandewirth, John Schreiber 

E. licideoker, L. Mark, 

Herm. Brocking, Phil. Soheu, 

Alex. Ebelsbacher, A. Schrel. 

Mich. KuQZ, 



59 

BECRETABIES. 

F. R. Hartman, N. Siegrist 

Dr.Nanz, F. Burlvhan,; 

Carl Nickel, A. Kuroz, 

Jac Hofl', Chas. Schmidt, 

H. Maurer, F. Geyer, 

Ph. Moench, H. Hertz, 

John Deger, A. Hubschmidt, 

F. Geiger, C. Fazer, 
F. Geis, 

Dr. Fred. Freeh read the resolutions in German, which were carried unanimously. 
When the list of representatives was read, the name of Fernando Wood was hailed 
with loud applause. . 

Eloquent and patriotic speeches were made in faVor of peace and re-union at this 
stand, by Dk. Ptockman, Dr. Feed. Fbech, Mb. E. Wiechel, Dr. Meekle, Mb. 
Philip F. Siiira^ !'.:. John Rittig, Maitz Meyer and others. 

The Gernu"". '-''nyds, during the entire proceedings manifested the warmest enthu- 
siasm, and whenever the name of Mr. 'Lincoln was mentioned saluted it with a loud 
groan. At 11 o'clock an adjournment was carried, but for a long time afterward, the 
crowd kept lingering in and around the stand, and it was near midnight when the last 
. left for their homes, taking with them a determination to striKe for the speedy restor- 
ation of peace. 



The following are a portion of the letters received and read to the Convention. 
Owing to lack of space all could not be inserted : 

From Ex- Governor Seymour of Connecticut. 

Hartford, June 1, 1863. 

Dear Sib : You have done me much honor by your invitation to the Mass State Convention, which 
is called to meet at the City of New York on the 3d of this month. 

I would be glad to attend and take a part in your proceedings ; but at present I have engage- 
ments which will prevent me from doing so. I must, therefore, beg of you to accept of my excuse 
and with it my cordial recognition of the principles upon which your call for a convention is predi- 
cated. 

You know something, sir, I presume, of Lhe Democratic platform upon which the late contest in 
Connecticut was conducted. Those who look only to results, as the test of truth, have conveyed the 
idea that it was the platform that defeated us, instead of something else. 

I feel myself at liberty to state that nothing can he more incorrect than this. When the doings 
of our Convention were tlrst published, the war party affected to be delighted with the action of that 
body. "The Lord has delivered them into our hands." Such was their boastful exclamation in the 
first moments of the peace issue we had oUered. But they soon discovered that the doctrines 
enunciated in the Democratic resolutions were popular with the people, and an element of strength 
instead of weakness. 

The people had seen enough of the war and of its deplorable consequences. They saw that it was 
plainly destructive of the Union instead of the way to save that Union, and therefore cheerfully gave 
their support to the proposed peace measures. 

It very soon became evident that these measures were getting a firm hold on the public mind 
and that the Administration parly would be driven to the wall. The leaders of that party not only 
8aw this, but they felt the sweep of the " tidal wave." By the middle of March this had overtaken 
them, and blanched their cheeks with 

" Fear of change, perplexing monarchs." 

Immediately they applied to Government for aid, and got the aid they required. The timely ar- 
rival of Government troops, carefully selected with relerence to the votes they would give, and 
thrown into the State on the eve of our election, prepared the way for tho defeat of those who stood 
upon the peace platform. • 

There were other means used to defeat us, which it is not necessary to mention at this time, but 
which may be told hereafter. 

When the troops left the Federal majority left with them, and to-day Connecticut is not only 
Democratic by a sound conservative majority, but sound on the very doctrines which I have the 
pleasure of seeing in your call for " Peace and Re-union." 



60 

■*■ 

Let me indulge the hope that this reference to my native State may find its excuse in the nature 
of your call for a mass meeting, and justify me in maliing the occasion a suitable one for troubling 
you with a few additional remarks. 

This terrible fratricidal war that is now going on in our country still continues its demand for 
new action. The assertion that it is a war for the Union proves to be a mere illusion. I may add 
that the character of the war has changed also, so that look at it in whatever light you please, it is 
plainly enough destructive of Union principles. Besides, it is fast assuming a barbaric aspect, the 
proofs of which thicken with the smoke of its battle fields, or are heard in the shrieks and groans of 
the slain, 

" Butchered to make a Roman holiday." 

The introduction of colored troops lends additional haired to the contest, provoking a war of 
races which cannot help but bring disgrace on the civilization of the age. 

In tliis view of the case, without going into details, I can have no hesitation in demanding with 
you and others, a cessation of hostilities. 

Let us at least have time to breathe, .and whilst resting from the carnage, ask ourselves if this 
is a contest which can have the approval of the Most High. For my own part I do not believe that it 
can. 

This invasion of neighboring States, with an eye to conquest, the confiscation of property, and 
general severe dealings with a high-minded, generous and brave people, whose great fault consists in 
too hastily resisting encroachments on their rights, has my deepest abhorrence, and I make no apol- 
ogy for saying so. 

Coming nearer home, I regard the war as the root of aU the evils of which our mass meetings 
take notice or complain — the recent arrest, imprisonment and subsequent banishment of the Hon. 
Mr. Vallandigham being one of the most outrageous and painful of all. 

To prosecute "vigorously " it was to the knife and the destruction of everything that lies in the 
way of arbitrary arrests. Hence confiscation bills, conscription bills, the suspension of the habeas 
corpus, illegal arrests, the violation of the constitution and overthrow of liberty itself. 

The necessity for union and harmony in our ranks is pressed upon us by the coming events that 
already 

" Cast their shadows before." 

Where great principles are concerned, every man has a duty to perform, which his conscience 
must approve. But every difl'eronce of opinion is not necessarily a diflerence of principle. 

Your Convention will, I doubt not, be a representative one of the entire conservative Democracy, 
and much cause you will have, I trust, for congratulating each other on the prospects of the true 
Union party of your great State. 

In my honored friend, your excellent Chief Magistrate, the people have an executive who will 
faifthfully maintain their rights, uphold the constitution and vindicate the majesty of insulted laws. 
His recent admirable letters to the Albany meeting is a text for us everywhere, and a warning to be 
watchful for our free institutions and prepared to defend them against the exercise of usurped powers. 

Hoping, sir, that a calm and dispassionate consideration of the great questions at issue the pres- 
ent day may lead us all to prefer peace to war, and help us to save our country, restore its liberties 
and lay the foundation of a more " perfect Union," and sincerely praying that your Peace Convention 
may contribute largely to those grand results, I have the honor to be respectfully, your obedient ser- 
ViJnt, • THOIVUS H. SEYMOUR. 



From the Hon: J. A. Bayard. 

Wilmington, May 23, 1863. 

Sir : I received this morning from Edward A. Lawrence, Esq., Chairman, an invitation to attend 
and address a mass State Convention, to be held in the City of New York on the 3d of Juno next, of 
all those in favor of a cessation of hostilities preparatory to a restoration of the Union, by conciliation 
and compromise." He also requests me to address my reply to you. 

I regret that I cannot accept the invitation, as unfortunately my voice has not sufficient strength 
to enable me to address large public meetings. Apart from this, however, I have under a deep 
sense of my responsibility and the gravity of the crisis, expressed in the Senate of the United States 
my opinions and given my reasons in opposition to the war before its commencement, and since it has 
been waged against its continuance. The progress of events has confirmed those opinions ; but in any 
public address I could but reiterate arguments previously urged and sustained to the full extent of my 
capacity. 

That I believe the continuance of this war fruitless for good, and that its prolongation must sooner 
or later end in the subversion of liberty and a government of laws throughout the Union, and be the 
source of vast injury, distress and ruin to the whole country, are very certain. Nor can I under- 
stand the process of reasoning by which many able men profess to have arrived at the conclusion 
that a Federal Government like ours, over so extensive a country and so many separate communities, 
with such diversified habits, manners, customs and laws, can be restored by the sword, and the con- 
quest and subjugation of one set of those communities by the others. To me it seems clear that we 
are warring against the foundation principle of our Government, and that success involves of neces- 
sity the destruction of both the Federal and State Governments, and the establishment of one great 
centralized despotism over the whole country. I ardently desire the restoration of the Union in its 
integrity ; but am entirely confident that war can never efl'ect such a result , and, therefore, I cor- 
dially approve of the object of the meeting, and shall feel less despondent as to the future of our coun- 
try when the public sentiment of the people shall be pronounced in favor of the cessation of hostilities. 

Very respectfully yours, &c., J. A. BAYARD. 



From the Hon. J. Glancy Jones. 

Reading Pa. , May 27 , 1863. 
Dbae Sir : I am in receipt of your invitation to attend and address a Mass State Convention to be 



61 

held in New York on tho 3il of June next. The movement meets ray cordial approval. " Peace, with 
a view to negotiations on the basis of a restoration of the Union," i.s tho true K'round for the Dt'moc- 
racj' to .stand upon, in my judsniont, and notliing l)ut a professional engagiMoent to defend citizens of 
my own county, under recognizances to appear on tho 2d of Juno beforo the United States Comrais- 
sionor at Philadelphia, on a charge of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of Abraham Lin- 
coln, prevents my prom|)t acceptance of your invitation. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. CLANCY JONES. 

To JoH-v J. Van Alles, Esq., Chairman of the Committee on Invitations, &c. 



From the Hon. Geo. H. Pendleton. 

Cincinnati, May 28, 1863. 

My Dkar Sir : I have returned within an hour from an engagement to address a political meet 
ing in tho interior of the Stale, and find your letter awaiting me, urging my presence on June. I re 
gret extremely that I cannot bo with you ; but since military orders and arrests have been attempted 
to break up the system of Democratic meetings and organizations, I ha\-le felt it to be my duty to 
stay in my own State and attend every meeting where I was expected, and maintain, by my exam- 
ple and precept, the ordinary organization of the Democratic party. Kngagements made several 
weeks since for the 30th of May and the 4th of Juno will prevent my going to N'ew York at the ap- 
l)Ointod time. The system of intimidation attempted to be practiced here, will, I am sure, be recog- 
nized as a sulDcient reason for not neglecting oven an ordinary county meeting in favor of your State 
Conveutiou. In haste, truly yours, GEO. H. PENDLETOX. 



From the Hon. JViUiard Smdshury. 

Georgetown, Del. , June 1 , 1863. 

Dear Sir : The invitation to attend and address a Ma.ss State Convention, to be held in the City 
of New York on the 3d of June, of all those in favor of a cessation of hostilities preparatory to res- 
toration of the Union by conciliation and compromise," has been received. Circum.stances beyond 
my control will prevent my attendance. My views in reference to the proper policy to be pursued 
for a "restoration of tho Union," were expresssed in ihe Senate of the United States on tho 8th of 
January last. I then said : "If my feeble voice could now become potential', I would say let hostili- 
ties immediately ceaso throughout the whole land. Let an armistice by mutual consent of contend- 
ing parties be immediately proclaimed ; let both sections honorably and as brave men acknowledge 
their faults, and as, far as possible, retract their errors. Let the people of all the States, North, South, 
East and West, through Iheir delegates meet in a National Convention, and there imitating the exam- 
ple of their fathers, agree upon a common basis of Union for all time to come." I have seen noth 
ing since to change the opinion thus deliberately expressed, and I am now as I was then, in favor of 
"conciiliation and compromise," as the best, surest and, as I believe, the only means of restoring tho 
"Union as it was under the Constitution as it is." Peace descends from Heaven , War springs from 
Hell. When the Almighty Ruler of the Universe commissioned his angels to proclaim his will to 
man, their mess'age was " Peace on Earth." Obedience to the will of Heaven can never bo disloy- 
alty among men. Peace is honorable : 

"A peace is of the nature of a conquest ; 
For then both parties nobly are subdued. 
And neither party loses." 

1 am, very truly, &c. , WILLARD SADLSBURY. 

John J. Van Allen, Esi.j., Chairman, &c. 



From the Hon. Geo. F. Comstoch 

Syracuse, May 27 , 1863. 

Hon. Fernando Wood : My Dear Sm— I have to-day returned from New York, after an absence of 
a week, and find your letter of the 22d iust. 

I feel myself greatly honored by the request of the Committee which you represent, to attend the 
proposed Peace Convention on the 3d of June, and to preside on that occasion. liut private and pro- 
fessional engagements of the most pressing nature will require my presence at home at that time. I 
am, therefore, under the necessity of declining the invitation. 

Permit me to add a word or two in this connection. I am not at all advised as to the action 
which it is proposed to take in the Convention. I see nothing wrong, but, on the contrary, much 
that is praiseworthy, in any attempt at a peaceful solution of our national difficulties. Nothing is 
more certain than that war, according to the jirinciplesand policy of the national administration, can 
never restore the Union. Nor is there tho slightest ground for believing that a restoration of tho 
Union under the Constitution enters at all into the intentions of the men now in power. To place 
power iu other hands as soon as it can be constitutionally done, is, therefore, a great and ovcrrulirl|r 
public necessity. There is no other possibility of .saving our institutions. Entertaining this views of 
the crisis, 1 venture to express the hope that the Convention will propose harmonious and united ac- 
tion by all the opponents of that destructive policy which has exalted the passion and frenzy of a 
party above the interests and happiness of the country. I think that divided organization and action 
• are to be deprecated, because division among tho friends of constitutional government may perpetu- 
ate the rule of the misguided men who now hold tho reins of power. 

Very respectfully, yours, GEO. F. COMSTOCK. 



62 



From the Hon. James W. Wall. 

Burlington, May 27, 1863. 
John J. Van Allen, Esq., Chairman Committee on Invitations : 

Dear Sir :■ I have just received your invitation to be present and address a mass Convention, to 
be held in the City of New York, on the 3d of .June proximo, of all those " in favor of a cessation of 
hostilities, preparatory to a restoration of the Union, by conciliation and conipromise." I endorse 
heartily Ibe objects of your call, and realize in it the fulfilment of a prediction made at a public 
gathering by myself, one year and a half ago, " that in less than two years the cry from the Democ- 
racy of the North will be for peace. The hopeless ruin and the useless slaughter will have forced 
\ipon them the conviction that there can be no union where blood is the cement, and no returning af- 
fection while fiercer passions continue to be engendered 'mid the wild havoc of slaughter." 

The results of this linholy strife among brethren only strengthen me in the conviction I had from 
the first, that it is as hopeless of good, as I know it to be productive of evil. The strife must cease 
before the calm majestic voice of reason can be heard. Let us at least have the magnanimity, being 
the stronger section, and not as we declare agitated by like passions with those in arms against us, 
to at least tender them the olive branch. Let us ask for an armistice, and then mid the lull of the 
contest learn from those who were once our brethren what their demands are, and upon what basis 
of settlement this terrible strife can be closed. If it can be brought to an end, even upon the basis 
of an entire reconstruction, better this than long years of cruel, bitter strife, demoralizing our people, 
hopelessly prostrating our business, and in which Constitutional liberty must sooner or later find its 
grave. No man here at the North can witness the rapid strides now making toward consolidation 
and centralization, through the agencies of usurped power without a shudder. The Constitution 
trampled under foot, the liberties of the citizen made a bye word and reproach — a military despotism 
rapidly encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the civil tribunals ; and the State authorities standing 
trembling and aghast before the advance of Federal bayonets. The life of tyranny grows with what 
it feeds on. I feel in reference to this Administration as Casca felt toward Caesar — 

" I know he would not be a wolf. 
But that he thinks the Romans are but sheep." 

Acts of gross and grievous outrage have been done before with impunity, and gathering cour 
age with the opportunity, it is making stride after stride that if not checked will result in the sub- 
version of the Government and the establishment of a military despotism upon the ruins of a free Re- 
public. I am glad to see the people are rousing themselves to a constitutional resistance of these acts 
of oppression at last, and through the medium of " meetings for redress of grievances," are intimat- 
ing to the men in authority, that they will hold them to the obligations of their official oaths. If 
they still persist after fair warning given, then revolution alone can vindicate outraged liberty. 
Then " the oTense must needs come, but woe be to him through whom the offense comes." 

Yours respectfully, JAMES W. WALL. 



From the Hon. Wm. B. Reed. 

Philadelphu, May 28, 1863. 

Gentlemen : It will not be in my power to attend the meeting of the Democracy in New York on 
Wednesday. I have a very clear impression that every man's duty now is at home, within tTie lim- 
its of the Commonwealth where his lot is cast, and to which, amid the rupture of all other ties, he 
owes undiminished allegiance. Here, then, be it a place of danger or security, let every Pennsylva- 
nian remain, resolute to maintain the integrity of the State as a sovereignty, and to shape, if possi- 
ble, her policy, so as to restore peace and promote ultimate reconciliation. 

Very respectfully yours, • ■ -SflLLIAM B. REED. 

To the Committee of the New York Convention. 



From the Hon. J. McGuire. 

Havana, May 28, 1863. 

Mt Dear Sir : The invitation of the Committee of which you are Chairman, inviting me to attend 
and jiddress a Mass State Convention of all those favorable to a cessation of hostilities, preparatory to 
a restoration of the Union by conciliation and compromise, to be held in the city of New York on the 
3d day of June next, has been duly received. It is not entirely certain that I can comply with the in- 
vitation, on aceount of business engagements which may possibly detain me here. The interest that 
I feel in the purposes and objects of the Convention will induce me to use every effort to attend. 
Nothing but the interest of other parties intervening will prevent me. 

I cordially approve of the meeting. The purposes intended to be subserved meet with my un- 
qualified approbation. Its effect will bo productive of good to the country at large. It will be an 
abomination to the potty tyrants who at present have control of our public nationaf affairs that there 
is a limit to despotism, or its attempt, in this Republic. A point to which the po- ; '.^ .'^.n be pushed, 
buf no further. It will be a withering rebuke to the despotic acts of the Adiu:..:. 1. jlii-n. its utter 
disregard of Constitutional limitations and obligations, the rights of property, ;ui.l 1:;. rr.om m of the 
citizen ; its arbitrary arrests ; suspension of the sacred writ of liberty ; its "iuir: rbujn of the public 
press, the freedom of speech, and almost the freedom of thought ; its drum head court-martial 
trials of civilians for words spoken to their neighbors. It will have a tendency to arrest the fearful 
demoralization spreading itself throughout the length and breadth of our land — the Executive, Legis- 



63 

lative, and Jydicial departments thereof; the Hicecutive, " like necessity, knowing no law," issuin" 
and approving edicts for violating the sanctuary of the private domicil, a man's own castle, and in 
deQance of the most time honored guaraiiloes, consecrated not only by the blood and privations of 
our fathers, but sealed with the blood of our Anglo-?axon progenitors, through a struggle of centu- 
ries ; authorizing a ruthless soldiery, stealthily, at the dead hour of the night to tear Irom his bed 
his family and homo, a man whose shoes this storytelling buffoon of an Executive is not worthy to 
unlatch; the Legislative enacting the most oppressive, unconstitutional laws, regardless of the 
rights of the Stales or the people. sftuabl>ling over the most shameful, corrupt measures for the bene- 
fit of favorites, and " fiddling while Rome is burning ;" the Judicial, by the most fallacious reason- 
ing, sanctioning the schemes of these fanatic tinkers, pronouncing the Constitution of the United 
States an India-ruhb.'r instrument, capable of adaptation to circumstances, and the circumstances 
upon which the adaptation depends to be judged of by any one who, for the time being, has gilded 
straps upon his shoulders, the commission of a provost marshal in his pocket, or the warrant of an 
Insignilicaut military police. 

The meeting will strengthen the arms and hearts of the genuine Democracy of the North— have a 
tendency to restore the Democratic party to the moorings from which it has swung— infuse into tho 
minds of the people that spirit of conciliation and compromise upon which our Government is based 
and teach them that our heretofore noble Republic — our Union of States, can never be preserved and 
maintained by brute force ; by the booming of cannon or tho bristling of bayonets. If this Govern- 
ment is ever to be kept intact, it must be by mutual forbearance and toleration — a catholic spirit of 
brotherhood — an acknowledgment of tho rights of all the members of the f'onfederacy,aud not mere- 
ly a bare formal acknowledgment, but acting and living up to tho.se rights in perfect sincerity and 
good faith. Ostracism must be avoided. Legislative discrimination in favor of any section must be 
discarded ; sympathy for the needy, philanthrophy for the outcast and the oppressed, whether real 
or assumed, can lind ample scope for its exorcise at our own doors, instead of going to Booriboola 
Gha to Und subjects of charity over whom to shed crocodile tears. 

Clergymen must preach the gospel, Sabbath-school teachers the rudiments of Cliristianity, in- 
stead of instilling into the minds of their congregations or their pupils, a haired of the icslitutions 
of the country, an^ a horror of the people by whom these institutions are maintained. AVar, fratri- 
cidal war, with all of its sad realities and heart rending calamities is unou us. Still it is not' out of 
place to recall to mind the causes which produce such dire results, and learn us that our only safety 
m the present hour is by a strict and faithful observance of the Constitution, and holding the pubiic 
servants to a strict accountahiliiy. 

Who, in his senses, believes that the " Union as it was, the Constitution as it is," can ever be re- 
stored by wary He who for a moment harbors such a thought has lived to but little purpose, and 
has read history in vain. No eight millions of people with Auglo-i~axon blood coursing their veins 
ha-: ever yet been subjugated were they Puritan, Roundhead, Cavalier, and probably never will. 
Toon why prolong this strife? Why deluge the earth with more blood? Why fill our land with Ra- 
chaels who refuse to be comforted because their sons are not, and make every house one of mourn- 
ing ? Why lavish and squander millions upon millions of the people's money in a vain, hopeless, fu- 
tile effort in atteraptiflg the accomplishment of an impossible thing? 

This mad career will run until the sovereign people in their majesty demand a change, and then 
the politicians of every stripe will learn that the people lead them, and not they the people. fUdi- 
cal abolitionism will then have no further use of Loyal Leagues to deceive and mislead, and no body 
of men either as a committee or otherwise, will pass resolutions as the principles of the Democratic 
party tendering their support to the Administration to suppress the rebellion by force — to furnish it 
with men and means foe that purpose, and in the next sentence declare the Administration to be 
corrupt, imbecile and unworthy ol public confidence — to declare that peace above all things, is de- 
sirable, and in the same breath which promises the Administration with untold amountf of money 
and endless regiments of men for coercion, pronounces it incapable of making a peace — thus cloth- ' 
ing it with unlimited powers for mischief, but not a single power for good. 

To the uninitiated — those not refined in the sophistries of politic? — it would seem that in the hands 
of such a wicked, corrupt Administration, the pur.se and the sword should not be placed, but every 
barrier should be erected to keep it from getting hold of them ; for if the parly in power is incapa- 
ble of conducting a war, it ought to be made to stop it as soon as possible, the lives of our men 
are too sacred, the interests of our country are too dear to be thus trifled with or to be made the 
sport of the politicians. 

Above all things we desire the perpetuity of this Government — the Union of these States we 

deprecate the thought of the abandonment of one or the destruction of the other. We believe 
thai war will en I in the permanent separation of the States, the destruction of American liberty and 
the hopes of oppres.<.ed humanity throughout the world. We believe that peace will maintain our 
Government, preserve our Union and restore reciprocal brotherhood and fraternity. "The Union as 
it was — the CoVistitution as it is." We believe in the language of our noble-hearted Governor, Hor- 
atio Seymour, ''that successful coercion is no better than successful rebellion." 

Every man, therefore, who is a lover of his country, who prefers her aggrandizement to the em- 
phemeral success of a party must necessarily approve of the object of this meeting. 

Respectfully, J. McGUIRE 

J. J. VAX Allbn, Esq., Chairman. 



THE ne^^^-youk: 



X 



1/ 



'i 



TO THE DEMOCRACY. 



Our political condition demands that the masses should study 
and understand the issues presented to the Country. The en- 
couragement and support of Democratic Journals have become 
therefore, more than ever, the duty of every Democratic Citi- 
zen. The organs of Black Republicanism are being circulated 
with all the energy of fanaticism, while the patronage of a pow- 
erful Administration gives them a vitality and influence that their 
principles could not secure. To refute their sophistries, to ex- 
pose their fallacies, and to re\ive the spirit of Democracy^ the 
circulation of the organs of Democracy requu'es an equal im. 
petns. 

The Neio York Neius has identified itself with the pure Dem- 
ocratic sentiment, and in the name of the great party it repre- 
sents, claims the attention and support of every Democrat. 
It is the exponent of Democracy as understood and taught by 
our fathers, and is devoted to the preservation of a Republican 
form of Government. It is hostile to aU usurpations of Author- 
ity, to all extension of Federal Power, and to all encroachment 
upon the rights of American Citizenship. It is a firm and fear- 
less supporter of Constitutional Liberty, the rights of the peo- 
ple and of the States. It is independent of all factions, and of 
all local organizations, and is controlled by principle alone. Its 
antecedents, and its present character, alike attest its claims to 
the attention of the Democracy, and we earnestly appeal to our 
Democratic fellow-citizens throughout the country to exert their 
influence in extending its circulation, for the sake of the princi- 
ples it expounds, whose triumph is now the only hoj)e of the Re- 
public. 

BENJAMIN WOOD, Editor and Proprietor. 

Daily Edition, per Annum, $6. Daily Edition, Single Copies, 2 Cents. 
" Six Months, 3. Weekly Edition, per Annum, - $1. 

Eleven Copies of the Weekly Edition to one address for Ten Dollars. 
Terms, invariably in advance. Communications and Orders addressed to 

IBS* '^sBk^mr ^iiSi^s^ji w^ t^ 

"DAILY NEWS,^ 
19 City Hall Square, New-York City. 



